Last Sacrifice My Version
by RJH84
Summary: This is how I imagine the next book to go. Rose is in prison for a crime she didn't commit, Lissa, Dimitri and the gang all need to work together to prove her innocence.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue.**

It seems like forever since Lissa and I were caught. That fateful day the Guardians tracked us down. The day _he_ found us.

Lissa Dragomir, the last in her Moroi line, or so we thought, and I, her faithful best friend and Dhampir Gaurdian had escaped from St. Vladimir's Academy only to be tracked by the God of all Guardians, Dimitri Belikov.

Little did we know then what would happen, what our fates would hold. And to think, we thought that going back to St. Vladimir's was the worst thing that could happen.

**Chapter 1.**

"They execute traitors." The words echoed around my head while I stared into the concerned eyes of the man in front of me, Zmey The Snake, my father.

In the distance I could hear someone calling my name, I could feel the crumpled piece of paper in my now sweaty palm, but none of it seemed real, none of it seemed like it was happening to me.

"I'm sorry Miss Hathaway, we've got to take you away now," I turned to see two Guardians standing on either side of me, slowly, so slow it seemed like it was happening in slow motion, they grabbed my hands and cuffed them behind my back as they led me away from the commotion taking over the court. I was lead out through a series of doors, all of which were a blur. I was lead down a long flight of stairs, until we reached the cells.

I knew these cells well, after all, only a few days ago this is where they held Dimitri when they still though he would go ape shit on their asses.

The two Guardians walked me into the cell, taking extra caution they released me from the cuffs, if I wasn't so numb and hollow inside I could've had a chance to escape, but I felt like I was trapped in fog, I felt disorientated, so as they closed the cell behind me I knew my fate had been sealed, and as realisation started to sink in I collapsed onto the cement floor with a sob.

I could feel the sobs wracking my body as I struggled to breathe, I felt like someone was squeezing my chest too tightly, then just as suddenly as I'd collapsed I was standing in the court again, tears running down my face as I was being held by someone, turning my head I could see it was Christian. Realising that Lissa had pulled me to her I tried to fight my way back to my cell where I could try to come to terms with what had happened, but just as I thought I had a grip on it I was sucked back to her.

"But she's innocent, she didn't do it" Lissa was repeating over and over like a mantra. Christian was rubbing her back, whispering to her, trying to calm her down.

"It will be alright Princess," back in my cell I cringed when I heard the deep, hauntingly familiar, accented voice, dread clutching my stomach as Lissa moved her eyes to look in to the deepest, brown eyes that would forever be burned into my memory, the worry and concern for Lissa was evident, and as always, since Lissa had staked him and brought him back from being a Strigoi, there was the adoration. It twisted my insides in pain.

I could hear raised voices, and when Lissa lifted her head and turned to look, I could see Adrian nearly screaming at Abe,

"What the hell do you think you were doing? Did you really think that you could help her?" Adrian's face was contorted in anger, I'd never seen him like this, Adrian who was always so laid back, calm and collected, tense and radiating pure hatred.

"Honestly, Mr Ivashkov, do you think there was anything that pathetic excuse of a lawyer would have been able to do?" Abe stood there looking defeated, shaking his head, "They've already convicted and condemned her, in their eyes she's guilty and if they have their way in three weeks she will be sentenced to death." Lissa gasped, then let out a sob.

It was then I was able to return to myself, curled up, sobbing on the floor of my cell.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

I stayed curled up on the cold, hard floor until there weren't any tears left. I felt so defeated, what was the point in trying to do anything anyway? I was going to die. More to the point I wasn't going to die fighting for a noble cause, or to protect anyone I cared about, I was going to die for something I didn't do.

I must've fallen asleep at some stage, when I woke I ached all over from the lack of movement. My face felt tight and crusty from the tears that had fallen and my eyes felt like I'd rubbed sand into them. I heard a movement outside my cell, turning my head I could see, through my swollen eyes that Adrian was standing there.

Slowly lifting myself off the floor, I raised myself to meet his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Rose," he sounded so forlorn, " I…I should've been able to protect you, I..I should have been able to help you, and now you're in this god forsaken shit hole." I gave him a grim smile,

"Maybe this is Karma, you know for all the badass things I've done over the years?" my attempt at making light of the situation fell very flat. Lifting a shoulder I attempted to look like I was dealing with the situation.

"I can't believe any of this is happening," he grated, the vehemence in his voice making me take a step back from the bars that separated us.

"Yeah, well no offence Adrian, but this isn't exactly happening to you." I mumbled keeping my eyes to the ground.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You don't think that you being locked up has any effect on me? You don't think that I'm hurt, scared and worried for you?" at every word he spoke I could feel my ire building, "I love you Rose. How can this not have anything to do with me?" my jaw was starting to hurt as I tried to hold back the words wanting to jump out, but as usual the message to stop them didn't reach my mouth,

"Do you even listen to yourself Adrian?" I asked exasperated, "Do you realise how self absorbed you sound? _You_ are not locked up in this cell, _I_ am! _You_ aren't going to be sentenced to death for a crime you didn't commit, _I_ am!" I started to yell,

"I'm not denying how you feel, because quite frankly I can't tell you how you do or don't feel, but one thing is for sure, at the moment _I_ don't give a shit how you feel!" The next thing I knew there were Guardians everywhere,

"What the hell is going on here? What is all this yelling for?" one of the Guardians questioned, looking between Adrian and me.

"Just a disagreement over something," muttered Adrian, he wore a look of hurt and anger,

"I think you should probably leave Mr. Ivashkov, you were only allowed down here because of the circumstances with your Aunt, but I don't think it would be safe for you if the prisoner becomes antagonised." I laughed humourlessly, sounding more and more like a crazed woman.

"Fine, I'll leave," Adrian sighed, as the Guardians stood down, and then he turned to me so only I'd hear, "But I'll be back little Dhampir," I knew it was going to hurt him, but I couldn't stand it, seeing him was making coming to terms with my mortality harder, so I did the only thing I could think of, turning to the Guardian standing to one side of my cell,

"Make sure he doesn't come back, I don't want to see him again." Then I turned and went back to my corner.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

The next few days all blurred together, my mind played in a loop stuck on repeat. "What does it matter? Lissa doesn't need you anymore, she has Christian and Dimitri to protect her. Dimitri doesn't love you," then the sinister words Dimitri uttered in the Church that day "Love fades. Mine has..." on to, "Adrian would be better off without you, trouble seems to follow you where ever you go."

I managed to stay out of Lissa's head as much as possible, occasionally when I did slip in there she was arguing with everyone about trying to break me out. Personally I didn't want to hear that there was no hope, no way that I could get out of this, so I fought it.

The Guardians standing outside my own personal hell would bring me food, sliding it through the bars at the bottom of the cell. I hadn't eaten since they'd lead me here. I didn't want to eat, there didn't seem to be any point. I did notice however that they didn't send food that you would need cutlery for, they obviously knew how easily a fork, knife or even a spoon could be brandished as a weapon.

Deciding I needed to move I stood and walked over to the simple metal basin, with metal that had been polished so you could make out your reflection, a substitute for a mirror that couldn't be broken. Turning on the taps I let the water run over my hands, staring at it, but not feeling it. After a minute I splashed the cool water over my face, trying to get rid of the tight, grainy feel, lifting my face I saw a movement in the reflection of the metal. Every hair on my body seemed to stand on end, as every tense muscle in my body, tensed further and my heart rate kicked up a notch.

"What are you doing here?" My voice sounded strange, after not being used in over 72 hours.

That warm Russian accent washed over me, "Roza," I closed my eyes as the hurt and pain flowed through me. Holding onto the sink I dropped my head, fighting tears again.

"Please, Dimitri, just say what you came to say and leave," I could hear the defeat in my voice,

"I've come to see you for Lissa," I laughed humourlessly,

"Of course you have. There's no way you'd come to see me for yourself," out of the corner of my eye I saw him wince.

"Roza, please, she asked that I come see you, make sure you're alright." I felt like wire that had been pulled too tight, just waiting for the right conditions to snap, I turned to look at him, not able to look him in the eye I focused on the wall beside his right shoulder,

"What's the point?" I said on a sigh, "Honestly? Why bother going to all the effort of sending you down here when I'll be dead soon anyway?" I laughed again, "Funny that, talking about my own death, here today, gone tomorrow." The last muttered more to myself. I heard Dimitri let out what amounted to be a growl. Looking up as he turned and punched the wall.

Letting out a gasp I stood there wide eyed, I'd never seen Dimitri look so fierce, he rarely dropped is stoic facade.

"So that's it is it?" he was growling through his teeth, "You've just given up?" I stood there stunned, watching him pace in front of my cell. God I missed him.

"What do you want me to do Dimitri?" my anger was rising rapidly now, "I'm stuck down here in this fucking cell. Everyone will be better off when I'm dead. It's not like anyone needs me anymore." He growled again,

"What the hell do you mean no one needs you? There _are_ people that need you. Lissa for starters..."

I cut him off, "What with you and Christian to protect her? She doesn't need me Dimitri, in fact she would be a hell of a lot safer with me out of the picture." I could feel the pain ripping through me as I spoke the words,

"What about Adrian then?" I wasn't looking at him anymore, but I could hear the sneer as he said Adrian's name.

"What about him? I've done nothing but hurt him since I met him, over time he will get over it and move on." I sucked in a lung full of air, feeling like there was a band around my chest again, "Funny that you haven't said that _you_ need me." My words were dripping with sarcasm and anger.

"What do you expect me to say Rose?" I walked back over to the sink, needing to lean on it for support before my legs gave way beneath me, "I know I've hurt you Rose,"

I turned on him, furiously,

"Hurt me? Ha, Dimitri, what you have done is worse than that..." I grimaced "I wish you had killed me in Russia."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

I heard him gasp sharply,

"Don't look so surprised, I nearly lost my best friend, the person that is like my sister, the person I've sworn to protect and put before all others, all because I took off after you. I left everything behind, gave up everything to do what I thought you'd want.

"I went to kill you Dimitri, _you _the one person in the world I loved more than Lissa. Cause when it came down to it I chose you over her." I couldn't hold back anymore, as much as I wanted to, the angry words came spitting out,

"And as much as she says that it doesn't matter I know she will never forgive me for that. Not to mention I dragged my sorry ass across Russia and Siberia trying to find you." My jaw hurt from the tension, "I thought I'd killed you, and you know what? In that moment when you fell off that bridge, I wished that I'd died too. I thought that it was painful then, but honestly I preferred it when you were trying to kill me to what you're doing to me now." I was sucking in air as my body was shaking, "What you are doing to me now is worse than any death sentence. In fact I'm welcoming the peace that death will bring, because you have ripped my heart out. You have left me with a gaping fucking wound in my chest that no amount of time or distance will fix." He stood there, head turned away from me,

"I broke Viktor Dashkov, the one man I despise above all others out of prison, I put the person that I'm supposed to sacrifice everything for in harm's way trying to save you, so don't stand there telling me people need me, cause it's a big fucking lie. They don't need me all I do is bring more danger. I have no reason to want to fight this." I felt like I was going to be sick,

"Go back to Lissa, do your job and protect her and forget that you ever knew me." I was shaking all over, forcing myself to remain standing, I didn't want him to see just how much I was falling apart of all of this.

"Roza," he whispered, I looked up to see the confusion and pain in his eyes,

"I don't want your fucking sympathy," I spat at him, "Just piss off and leave me alone."

He just stood there stunned,

"What? You want to finish the job before they do? Because you being here, Dimitri, _is_ killing me."

Just then Abe came down the stairs, looking between Dimitri and me, breaking the silence.

"Rose, is everything OK?" he was eyeing Dimitri off now,

"Yeah everything is just peachy," I sniffed giving him a grimace. "Dimitri was just leaving," I said as I turned and walked over to my corner. When I sat down I could feel Dimitri's gaze boring into my back, then he silently turned and walked away.

"Sorry if I interrupted anything," not sounding sorry at all,

"There wasn't anything to interrupt," I muttered.

"I've got news," I looked up at his grim face, "It's about your trial." I felt my stomach drop, still I stayed silent, "With everything that's going on they've brought it forward, to comfort people into believing that everything is fine," he sighed.

I stood up and cautiously walked towards him, "When is it?" I looked him dead in the eye,

"In two days." I gasped, "There's more," he said ruefully,

"It seems, according to my sources, that they have undeniable evidence that it was you who killed Tatiana,"

"Shit." I said stunned, Zmey shook his head looking remorseful,

"Yeah, shit." He agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys, I just want to say thank you for the reviews :-) Any comments/feedback are welcome.**

Chapter 5.

I walked over to the sink, cupping my hands under the running water, drinking, lubricating my dry throat. I was wiping my hands on the legs of my jeans when I felt something. I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out the forgotten, crumpled piece of paper, opening it to read the message Tatiana had written there for me,

How did Tatiana know all of this? Who the hell had set me up, and why was Lissa's sibling being kept a secret? How is it no one knew about him or her? I knew that if we could find this person it meant that Lissa would be able to vote on the council, I also knew that it meant that she wasn't the last Dragomir like we all thought, so why, after making such a point of Lissa not being able to vote, was Tatiana sending me messages from the grave?

Tatiana's note had said not to share this information with many people, I shook my head and started to chuckle, at the moment there was only one person I hoped could help me with this information,

"I understand this must be difficult for you Rose, but you have to pull yourself together," I turned and walked to the bars,

"No, it's not the trial, I need you to do something for me. I need you to be the Zmey I know who can get whatever he wants." Looking puzzled he nodded,

"What do you need?" I passed him the letter, "What is this? How did?..Ambrose. Ambrose gave this to you?" It wasn't really a question, more a statement. I nodded in confirmation.

"Rose, we have to get you out of here." He said looking down at the paper he held, "If we can find Eric Dragomir's child we will be able to show them that you are innocent, we'll be able to clear your name." He raised his head looking at me, a spark of hope in his eyes,

"We're going to get you out of here, tonight."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, again thanks for the feedback, I'm glad that you're enjoying it :-D I know you must be frustrated that Rose is still stuck in the Cell, but fear not the action will begin very soon ;-) R.J. **

Chapter 6.

After Abe left, time started to drag, the anticipation burning through me was making the wait agonising, not to mention that I had no idea what or when anything was going to happen.

I started to count the blocks that made up the wall, but I'd get to the third row and lose track of where I was up to. I curled up on the cot, I honestly didn't know how Dimitri was able to sleep on it, it was so small and hard. I made a noise of frustration, _again with Dimitri, when are you going to learn Rose?_ I couldn't help it. My mind simply kept circling back to him. He had become such a mystery. How had he gone from being the caring loving man I'd once known, to the blood thirsty Strigoi I'd tried to kill, to this distant stranger. How could he tell me that his love for me had faded and then turn around and take on the Royal Guardians to try and save me? And that same man who claimed not to have feelings for me looking so intense and intimidating sitting in court as I was being taken to my cell.

It was then that I realised that I'd let my anger get the better of me when he'd come to see me. I didn't even ask him about why he'd tried to protect me, why he looked like he cared, I'd been typical Rose and gone on the defence. It felt as though the vice was back around my ribs, what had I done? I should have asked, should have made him explain to me what was going on, why he was claiming one thing while his actions showed another. I needed to stop thinking about him, he'd made his choice, I was supposed to be moving on with Adrian. Adrian who I loved, Adrian who I was comfortable with, but the more I thought about it I realised that the love I had for Adrian was similar to the love I have for Lissa. The love you have for a person that you lean on for support, someone that you'll be there for. Despite that last night I'd spent with him I realised it was the love of a friend.

Suddenly I remembered, Lissa, perhaps she could shed some light on what's going to happen. I concentrated on our bond, I could feel her emotions coming through loud and clear, and the next thing I knew I was standing in Adrian's room. Christian was sitting at a desk, doodling on a scrap of paper. Mia Rinaldi was sitting cross legged in the middle of Adrian's bed reading a novel, and Adrian, was standing out on the balcony smoke in hand. I could feel Lissa's consternation over Adrian's smoking, he'd been doing so well with the whole clean living thing. There was tension in the room, like everyone was waiting for something to happen. Adrian stubbed out his cigarette and walked back inside to his chest of draws, it was as Lissa's eyes followed him that I realised there were crystal decanters of liquor sitting on top, pouring himself a drink that he threw back in one go he turned to Lissa,

"Do you think that she's as messed up as Belikov says?" Lissa grew anxious not only over me but over Dimitri too, obviously he'd reported back to her about our meeting. Adrian brought his eyes up to look at Lissa, "You don't think that she'd do anything stupid do you?" Christ what had Dimitri told them?

Lissa looked over at Christian, I could feel her anxiety and confusion over everything.

"I'm sure she's fine. You know how she can get when she's stressed, and she has a lot on her plate right now," Christian as always was level headed.

Mia lifted her head looking at the clock on the wall,

"What time did he say he was going to meet us here?" there was a knock at the door, everyone looked at it like it was a bomb about to go off,

"He said twelve, but it's only a quarter to," Lissa was walking over to open the door, she opened it a crack and sighed. I felt myself tense up as Dimitri stood on the other side, the adoration for Lissa ever present in the way he was looking at her. I felt the hurt and pain well up inside me, not able to push it back like I could with so many things.

"I just spoke to him, he said be ready to move at four."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey there, well if you're still here, thanks for the support lol, and seen as you've made it this far why don't you leave me a review to let me know what you think ;-) **

Chapter 7.

After uttering that one line Dimitri turned and walked back down the corridor, Lissa turned to everyone in the room,

"Ok so do we know what the plan is?" she asked no one in particular. I saw Mia roll her eyes and get up off the bed,

"If he just spoke to him then he must have some idea what's going to happen, right?" Adrian asked Lissa, frustration was starting to rear it's ugly head, as Lissa shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room to go after Dimitri. Not wanting to bear witness to this conversation I brought myself back to my cell.

I guessed I'd just have to be prepared for the unexpected; my body was practically vibrating with unleashed anticipation. I slipped my hand in my pocket and pulled out the piece of paper needing to find something, anything to stop me thinking about either Dimitri or the breakout that was going to happen.

_Another lives, the illegitimate child of Eric Dragomir. _

Every time I would go over that line I would be reminded of the strange things I heard in Las Vegas. I knew Eric, he was like the father I'd, previously, never had. He was so in love with Lissa's Mother, I just couldn't understand how it could be possible he would have an affair. If their marriage was a lie then where was the hope for the rest of us?

I thought about what Sydney had told me about the stolen Alchemist records, the only reason someone would steal them is if they knew there was something in them. With my new knowledge about Eric's illegitimate child I could put two and two together and figure out that whoever had stolen the file must know about the child, or if they didn't then chances are they would by now, but who had the most to gain from all of this? And what were they planning on doing with this information? Was the person that stole the records the same person that killed Tatiana?

_No matter your faults and dangerous temperament, you are the only one I feel can take on this task._

I still wasn't sure that the letter could be from Tatiana, but unless I could see and speak to her spirit, the same way that I did with Mason, there was no way to be certain, until such time I had to hope that I wasn't making a terrible mistake, that I wasn't being set up, again.

I, however, did know she was right about one thing, I was the only person that could do this, it sounded like it was the type of thing that would need my "expertise" and Rose-logic to get to the bottom of. I grinned at myself, maybe Dimitri was right, maybe someone still did need me, and just maybe it was Eric Dragomir's illegitimate child.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

Thinking about something other than how slow time was going had the desired effect, I eventually drifted off to sleep, I found myself standing on a balcony overlooking a courtyard. I turned and saw Adrian leaning over the railing,

"You haven't been sleeping much little Dhampir." He wasn't looking at me, and he was tense, almost like he didn't want to be here,

"Adrian, what's going on?" I wanted at least a heads up,

"I don't know, Lissa's gone off after _him_ to see if he knows, she hasn't been back here since he came to tell us that we've got to be ready to move out at four." He'd obviously figured that I'd been eavesdropping on their conversation. "He said that you aren't doing so well," he finally turned and looked at me, the hurt and suppressed anger were all over his face, this aggression was something I'd never seen in him before, and it concerned me, especially with him using Spirit.

I let out a self deprecating laugh, "Yeah, for some reason thinking you're in a situation that you can't get out of caused me to turn into a psycho bitch, who knew?" He didn't laugh, he just kept watching me with his sad eyes,

"Look, Adrian, about the other day…" I suddenly couldn't look at him, and he obviously wasn't going to let me have a free pass and tell me that it was all ok, that he understood, "I'm sorry for bitching you out, I'm just a little confused with everything that's gone on these last couple of days. It's not every day that you're arrested for killing The Queen," still he said nothing, which made me uncomfortable,

"Obviously you're feeling like yourself again if you can make jokes." He sounded so emotionless, as he turned to look over the courtyard again, reaching into his pocket to pull out and light up a cigarette. I started to become frustrated, knowing that it was because of me that he was smoking and drinking again. I felt guilty and angry at myself for making him feel that way.

"What do you want me to say Adrian?" Ironic that it was pretty much the same question Dimitri had asked me only a few hours ago.

"I know that _he_ tried to stop the Guardians from taking you Rose, I also know that _he _came to see you and got more out of you than I did." I looked at his back in shock at the anger in his voice,

"When you're out of here little Dhampir, when you and I are able to have a conversation without people eavesdropping, we are going to have to discuss everything that has happened, and I warn you that we need to resolve this situation, because as much as I have been patient with you, I can't take this anymore. I thought you'd made your decision when you came to me the other night, but…" he shrugged. I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make the situation worse so for once I kept my mouth shut. Everything went black and I woke up on the hard little cot in my little cell feeling very uncertain and queasy.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

Someone was coming, lifting my head off my knees; I forced my face to look blank so I wouldn't give anything away.

"Hello Rose," I felt every muscle in my body lose its tension as I realised it was Mikhail; I stood and stiffly, after hardly moving over the last few days, walked toward him.

"Hey," I hadn't seen Mikhail since he lead me into court with my entourage of Guardians, it was nice to see a smiling face for the first time in days, I still couldn't believe that I'd only been trapped in this cell for four days, it felt like years since I'd seen the night sky with it's millions of stars, or breathed in the fresh crisp air. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't getting all sentimental but being trapped in a small cell makes you appreciate the little things like privacy and enclosed showers.

"Something big must be going on if you're here to see me?" I joked, I was on edge, and not knowing who was involved and what was going to happen or even when, I didn't know what to expect.

"It would seem that there's a bit of a situation that requires attention, which leaves me with the dubious task of guarding you." He was wearing a smirk, but I couldn't read him, my insides were jumping around,

"And what situation would that be?" I asked raising an eyebrow sceptically; he let out a chuckle,

"Somehow," he started with a very innocent look on his face, "one of the main buildings has caught fire," my first thoughts went to Christian, but I managed to hide my surprise, again with the smirk, "and when they hooked up the hoses to put the fire out, the main water pipe that the hydrants and sprinklers are all connected to burst," I raised both my eyebrows now, while secretly being impressed at Mia's power. "So the guardians are all there to help get the Moroi to safety, as well as help get water to the fire, hence me being relegated to guard duty."

Confusion crossed my features, "So, why are you telling me this?" he took a deep breath,

"Well, it seems you have some pretty influential friends, and it would also seem that those same friends want you out of this cell," my heart rate started to accelerate, "And Rose, I'm here to do just that." I stood there stunned,

"So you're just going to open the door and let me walk out of here?" he all of a sudden looked uncomfortable, "What?"

"Well, yes and no." I was confused again, "Yes, I'm going to let you out of here, but before you walk out of here I need you to knock me out, and lock me back in the cell. Make it look like you attacked me." My face broke out in a huge grin, "You don't need to look so happy about it you know." He said sullenly, I tried to smother a giggle,

"I'm sorry Mikhail, it's just…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." He mumbled pulling a key chain off his belt, "lets just get this over with." He unlocked the door, and walked in the cell, then hesitated, "When you get upstairs, go out the back entrance near the elevators, there'll be someone there to meet you, and Rose, I don't think I should have to tell you to make sure that no one sees you." I nodded my head grinning again, figuring that it would be easier on him if I took him out while he wasn't expecting it I swung my arm and knocked him to the floor, where he went out cold,

"Sorry and thanks." I murmured to him as I closed and locked the cell behind me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi again :-) thanks to the people who have left me feedback, it's great to know that you're enjoying it, hopefully as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Here's the next chapter...let me know what you think **

Chapter 10.

I felt excited and anxious at the same time, not knowing if that was me or if it was Lissa.

I ran to the staircase, sticking close to the wall, even though Mikhail said that the other Guardians were occupied, you never knew. Using all my training I silently slipped up the stairs. Reaching the top I peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear, it didn't seem as though there was anyone there, so I calmly pulled myself together and ran toward the garden in the centre of the open area crouched close to the ground.

When I reached the garden I ducked behind a hedge finally releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding. Crouching there I could distantly hear a roaring sound, and suddenly realised I could taste the acrid smoke hanging in the air, silently hoping that no one was hurt or worse in the blaze.

Focusing back on what I had to do I looked over the top of the hedge locking in on my destination. There, to the far right of the room were the elevators, and right next to them was the automatic doors that led to a car park.

Scanning the room one last time to make sure it was deserted I sprinted for the door a mere fifty yards away. I didn't hear the noise, I could have kicked my own ass after for not paying attention. As I closed in on freedom one of the elevator doors slid open. Pulling myself up as fast as I could I looked left and right, trying to find somewhere or something to duck behind.

I should've learnt my lesson in Russia when I was up against Dimitri, but the time it took me to hesitate was all the time that was needed for Daniella Ivashkov to let out a surprised shriek, I stopped dead, not knowing what to do. I could take her out, but this was Adrian's Mum, granted she wasn't always the nicest person, but she was still his Mum none the less.

"Shit,"

"What are you doing?" She was screaming at me, I had to deal with this quickly, she stepped out of the elevator towards me, "How did you get out of your cell?" I stood there waiting for her to step closer, knowing now I had no option. She took another step towards me,

"Sorry," I muttered as I completed a roundhouse kick and knocked her out. Quickly I dragged her back into the elevator, hoping that no one would find her at least until we were in the clear. As the doors closed on Adrian's unconscious mother I ran out the sliding glass doors, my heart rate soaring.

Hiding behind a column close to the entrance I started to breath again, it felt like I was gasping for air. Quickly I collected my thoughts and assessed what I needed to do next.

Mikhail said that someone was going to meet me here, I looked around me but couldn't see anyone. I slid around the other side of the column that looked out over the exposed car park, and still didn't see anyone or any thing. My stomach was suddenly gripped with panic, what if it was a setup? What if I'd just been played again. Sucking in a deep breath I decided that my best bet was to head towards the forest, the problem was that I had to get through the car park to get there. "Well this is messed up," I muttered to myself, looking around I stopped thinking and started listening to my gut instinct, and started to make my way toward the car park.

Just as I stepped foot onto the blacktop of the road an inconspicuous looking black Chrysler hemi came screaming out of no where, stopping centimetres from where I was frozen. The back door opened and there was Lissa, screaming at me.

"Come on Rose get in the car. Now." Blinking I got in, we were moving before the door was even closed.

I could feel the adrenalin pumping through my veins, my breathing was laboured, I felt nauseous. In the distance I could hear Lissa speaking to someone,

"What's wrong with her?" she sounded like she was talking through a tunnel, her concern was battering me through the bond, I felt dizzy, and before I realised what was about to happen everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi guys, don't forget to review please :-D **

Chapter 11.

Something had woken me, I jumped out of bed, fully alert and ready for attack.

"Woah, they weren't kidding about you were they?"

Startled I spun around to face my attacker, fighting the dizziness that seemed to be making my head feel fuzzy and the room spin. To my embarrassment I stumbled and grabbed at the edge of the bed to hold myself up.

"Rose, you have to listen to me," I was trying to force my body to remain standing, "You're safe, you fainted, and you're probably still feeling the effects of having low blood sugar." Figuring that there was nothing I could do even if I was in danger I slumped to the floor with an inelegant thud I felt jar my entire body. Closing my eyes I welcomed the darkness.

My head felt like someone was playing the drums in there. I lay there with my eyes closed, trying to ignore the thudding. I slowly opened my eyes a crack, only to wince at the light coming in through the gauzy curtains.

As my faculties started to take over again I realised someone was in the room with me, slowly I opened my eyes again looking at the white ceiling above me.

"Roza?" Startled again I sat upright with a jolt, heart leaping through my chest. Sitting there beside my bed watching me with his unreadable eyes was Dimitri. I felt my brow crease as I tried to remember what had happened.

"Where are we?" I croaked out. It felt as though someone had scraped my throat with razor blades, he stood and walked over to a dresser on the opposite side of the room, where there was a pitcher of water and a glass. Filling the glass he walked back to the chair, sat down and handed me the glass,

"Don't be so wary Rose, you are safe." As I accepted the glass our fingers brushed, I heard him inhale sharply, turning my gaze away from him I drank, after clearing his throat he continued. "Your father will be in to explain everything to you shortly, but as its daylight I was asked to watch over you." I took a sudden interest in my feet, covered by the thick woollen blanket,

"What are you doing here?" I asked in almost a whisper, "I mean, why did you help me get out?" Out of the corner of my eye I could see the rueful expression on his face, which made my heart twist again,

"Your father asked me," he stated not letting anything slip, "Figuring it was only a matter of time before I would be called upon to be questioned over my involvement with the evasion your apprehension, I had nothing to lose." I nodded my head silently.

"Thank you, Dimitri, for everything." I was fighting back tears now, my shoulders started shaking. As he stood to walk away I could see the anguish on his face, it was quickly replace with his usual pensive expression.

"Now that you are feeling better I will leave you. Your father will be in soon." I nodded still looking at my feet at the end of the bed. He turned and walked out the door, closing it with a click.

Taking a deep breath to compose myself I looked around the room, I was sitting in a large bed in a richly furnished room, full of dark wooden furniture and plush embroidered chairs. The walls were covered in blue patterned wallpaper with white trim. The white door that Dimitri had just walked out was to my left. On my right the wall was lined with white framed windows, and French doors that led out to a balcony, standing slowly I made my way on shaky legs to look out the gauzy curtains. Below was an amazing garden, full of well kept lawns and hedges. In the middle of the landscaped area was a fountain surrounded by large trees.

The sun on my skin felt warm and comforting. I stood with my eyes closed letting its heat seep into my pores.

Walking back into the room I walked over to what I presumed was the bathroom door, opening it I walked in and gasped. My eyes must've been the size of saucers, just like the rest of the room, the bathroom was lux. Black marble covered the floors and walls, there was a massive tub with spa jets, sitting tucked away in one corner behind some ornamental ferns. A walk in shower with several shower heads made up the other side of the room, there was a door that I presumed led to the toilet near the spa and hanging over opulent his and her basins was a huge gold gilded mirror. At first I didn't recognise myself. My hair was matted and greasy, my skin looked washed out and sullen, I looked like a ghost of myself. And right then I didn't care that people had seen me like this, I was happy to have escaped that hell hole that I'd been trapped in. I smiled wanly at my reflection, walking over to the basin. There was a basket sitting next to one of the sinks, and as I walked closer I realised it contained soaps, shampoos and lotions. Without thinking I stripped off on the spot grabbed what I needed out of that little basket and turned the taps on in the huge shower. It felt like standing under a waterfall. I scrubbed my skin until it was red and buffed, I washed my hair, brushing out all the knots. Then I just stood there letting the water melt my strained muscles, relaxing me.

When I finished I walked out, rubbed lotion over my dry, clean skin, inhaling the combination of jasmine and rose, pulling a face when I made a pun to myself about smelling like a Rose.

Hanging on a hook near the door were a black and white fluffy robe, I walked over and grabbed one, even though it was huge on me it made me start to feel like my old self.

As I walked back out to the bedroom I was surprised to see that the sun had set and my father was sitting in a chair by one of the windows deep in thought.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

"Abe?" lifting his head as he realised he wasn't alone anymore he turned to look at me and smiled,

"Well you're looking better than the last time I saw you." I grimaced,

"I think anything would look better than passed out from hunger," he chuckled, "Abe, where are we?" he stood and walked out the door to the balcony.

"Oh you know, just one of my many hide outs." He was obviously being vague on purpose,

"So this is like a safe house?" he started to laugh, obviously I didn't get the joke,

"Something like that. Why don't you sit down? There's a lot we need to discuss." Tentatively I walked over to one of the padded wrought iron chairs and sat, "Firstly I suppose you would like to know how we got you here?" well that was a no brainer,

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Christian started the fire and Mia caused the pipe to explode," I couldn't help but be sarcastic. Abe chuckled,

"Yeah and of course Mikhail let you out. Somehow I don't think you'll be able to ask him for any favours anymore either." I scoffed at this,

"Listen Old Man, he let me out as a favour to you, not to me, so the way I see it, I can still call on him if I need to."

"Enough with the Old Man business, I'm not that old." Realising we'd gotten off topic he continued the story. "I won't bore you by going into too many details but pretty much we got you in the car, drove you across court to where the playing fields are, there a helicopter swooped in to pick us up, and brought us here." I raised my eyebrows,

"Right, well that sounded easy enough."

"It was, up until you passed out on us," he replied derisively. I smirked,

"Yeah, sorry about that." He looked silently out over the darkening gardens,

"Who was the person that was in my room earlier?" He looked at me quizzically, "Earlier there was someone in here, I didn't recognise them." Recognition washed over his face,

"Oh, it must've been Singh, he's a physician, I asked him to come and make sure you were alright." I nodded my head.

"Well I'm going to let you have some time to get yourself together, feel free to explore. There are clothes for your use in the closet over near the bathroom door, and breakfast will be served in the dinning room in," he looked at his watch, "Half an hour." I smiled,

"Thank you Old Man," he shook his head and walked out the door.

I stood and walked to the closet, wondering where Lissa was, grabbing some clothes I quickly dressed, happily impressed that it was my usual garb. I was about to walk out the door when it burst open and I was gripped like a vice. Past the halo of blonde hair I could see Christian standing in the door way smiling smugly.

"Oh my God, I'm so glad that you're alright, I didn't know what was going on." Lissa was practically yelling, "Don't you dare do that again, you hear me." I can't believe you hadn't eaten anything, God…"

While she was taking a breath I pulled back from her hug I smiled at her, "Hi Liss, nice to see you too, how's things?" I could hear Christian chuckle,

"You're always such a smart ass Rose." I laughed not bothering to answer him.

"Ah, Lissa, do you think you could please let me go now?" I asked as she still clung to me, "Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy to see you and all, but I need to sit down," I smiled to let her know I was teasing her. She finally managed to release me until I sat on the bed, then she was sitting right next to me, watching me.

I could hear her worried thoughts, _I hope she is Ok. She doesn't look like she's going to have a breakdown or anything._

I turned and looked her in the eye, "I'm fine, really." Putting a lot of emphasis on the really, "I just had a bit of a pity party there for a while, but I'm back to my old self. Ok?" I even smiled and gave her a Rose patented eye roll. Still looking at me with scepticism in her eyes she smiled back.

"So, congrats on getting your crap sorted guys," Lissa turned and looked at Christian who was leaning against the wall. Through our bond I could feel the love, affection and lust she had for him, not to mention know what she was thinking, "Ew, guys if you two can't stop being all lovey dovey I'm just not going to be able to hang out with you anymore." I laughed, "Seriously guys, get a room, hang on, perhaps on second thoughts, please don't." Lissa blushed and giggled, Christian shook his head.

"Well I think that's my cue to leave." Christian murmured with a smirk on his face, "I'm glad your back Rose."

"Thanks fire boy." The door had hardly closed behind him before Lissa turned to me,

"What the hell Rose, I warned you about pushing Dimitri, and you didn't listen did you? Not to mention what you did to poor Adrian." I flinched,

"Look, Liss, I know what I did to Adrian was bad, but it was what I thought was best for him at the time. I didn't want him to worry and see me the way I was. It sure as hell wasn't pretty." She wasn't angry at me over Adrian as such, just annoyed.

"Is it true that you and he…" I stopped and looked at her,

"Oh. My. God. What the fuck?" I was angry now, I had to get up and move, "No Adrian and I didn't have sex, we fooled around and…" it was awkward bring up the whole biting thing, especially with Lissa. Back when we left St. Vladimir's, the first time, Lissa would feed off me, I couldn't remember at that stage if I'd told her about Dimitri while he was Strigoi, but it was all very taboo.

"What Rose? You fooled around and, what?" I couldn't look at her,

"He bit me, ok. I let him bite me. We never finished the deed, but…" I stopped when I felt a trickle of apprehension, "What aren't you telling me?" She looked nervous now,

_Crap, how do I tell her that Dimitri thinks they did? I shouldn't have brought it up. Crap, you heard me didn't you?_ I just nodded my head.

"I already know that Dimitri thinks we did, he saw the marks on my neck just before I was arrested." I mumbled at the floor.

"Oh, Rose"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13.

I could feel her anguish, sympathy and pity for me, which of course flared my anger hotter,

"What? He didn't tell you that it was because of him that I even went to Adrian?" I snarled sarcastically, "He told me that, quote, '_Love fades. Mine has._'" I was clenching my fists now. "He hurt me, rejected me after everything I did for him, he then has the audacity to tell you what is now none of his business. And you're angry at me for pushing him." I was growling, Lissa was flinching at the tone of my voice, not to mention the anger she could no doubt feel radiating out of every one of my pores. "Did he care to explain to you why he fought off the Guardians when they tried to arrest me? Or why he has even bothered helping get me out?" Lissa was sitting there in tears now. I stomped out the door and took off down the stairs that I hoped led to the front door. I needed to get out, I needed to run. I slammed the door closed behind me and not knowing where I was going or caring I ran.

I could feel the wet, cold tears running down my cheeks, which only pushed me to run faster and harder. I don't know how long I kept going or how far I went, but I eventually had to stop when my burning lungs wouldn't let me get enough air. I stopped and collapsed behind a huge tree. Tears still flowing freely, lungs still struggling to fill with precious oxygen and every muscle coiled tightly. It was agony but no where near as painful as my chest. It felt like someone had staked me, and they'd definitely hit my heart. I was such a pitiful shivering mess.

At first when the strong, warm arms wrapped around me, I thought it was my imagination, but when I pressed my face to the hard muscled chest and breathed in his scent I clung to him.

"Roza," he whispered into my hair, I closed my eyes, tightening my grip on him. He sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap, his fingers playing with the ends of my hair as I sobbed and hiccuped. After a while I stopped shivering, and my tears dried up.

I pushed myself to sit up, only to be dragged back against his chest.

"I need you to understand," he paused, and took a deep breath, "I need you to understand why I have treated you this way." I could feel his tense muscles pressed against my body. I didn't say anything, I waited for him,

"You scare me Rose, you scare me for so many damned reasons." I closed my eyes and tried to push against him not sure I wanted to hear what he had to say,

"No, you need to hear this and I need to tell you," he sighed as he pulled me back, "I tried to kill you Rose, I came after you, hunted you. Before I was turned it was all I could do to not think about you, to not worry about you, but when I was turned I became obsessed with you, and then when you came after me and I had you all I wanted was to keep you with me, I wanted you to choose me, stay with me.

"I drank from you, and still it's like I can taste you, feel you flowing through me and it's agonising." I covered my face with my hands so he wouldn't see me. "It's agonising, because I did that to you. The intensity of my love for you before seemed to become twisted when I was turned, I suppose for a Strigoi it is what amounts to love, and as sick and twisted as it is a part of me is angry you rejected me.

"What scares me now, is that my feelings, my love for you, was that strong. As a Strigoi I should've lost all of my humanity, but somehow my love for you continued." I could feel the tears starting to build up again, I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

"You said that when you thought you'd killed me, you wished that you'd died. But Rose, do you have any idea how confused I am over that. I remember feeling you push the stake between my ribs," I couldn't hold back my gasp as the tears started to fall again, "I remember the look on your face as you pushed to try and get the stake to pierce my heart, and I remember seeing you as I fell off that bridge. You said that you loved me, and rationally I know why, but you still tried to kill me, and I tried to kill you." I could hear the pain and anguish in his voice,

"When I found out that you were with Adrian, I was hurt. I thought you'd moved on, that you would never be able to love me the same way again, but I was also relieved. After how I was as a Strigoi, I didn't know if I could become how I was before, if I could be the man you loved, if I could reclaim my humanity and I didn't want to hurt you again like I did when I was Strigoi, so I pushed you away. I didn't want to see you, or hear from you. Lissa was trying to help me, she was trying to heal me, make me whole again, make me find myself again. I keep telling myself that I've done the right thing, that the pain you're feeling will fade. But seeing you in that cell, and hearing you sound so defeated and broken, it wasn't right. You'd given up. After seeing you like that I realised that we need each other," I lifted my head to watch his face, he placed a kiss to my forehead. "We complete each other, we're the other half of each other's souls, and even though mine is not what it used to be, I need yours, to help me come to terms with everything that has happened."

I was crying again, but this time it was tears of joy. He lifted his hand to cup my jaw,

"My Roza," he whispered as he slowly lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me so sweetly it was painful. He moved and cupped my face in both his hands as he deepened the kiss. He slowly pulled away, brushing kisses up my nose and across my eyelids before pulling back so I could look deeply into his brown depths.

"It may take a while for me to come to terms with everything, but if you're willing to wait and help me through it, I know it'll be worth it." I gave him a teary smile and nodded my head before burying myself in his warm embrace.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey everyone, **

**Sorry that it's taken me so long to upload, I've been really busy over the weekend reading Linger by Maggie Steifvater and the My Blood Approves Series Books 1-3 by Amanda Hocking. Thanks again for the reviews I really appreciate them, and keep them coming cheers, R.J.**

Chapter 14.

After what felt like hours we decided we'd better go back to the house. I was anxious to face Lissa again, knowing that I owed her an apology for blowing up like I did, all the while trying to push aside the guilt over keeping her father's secret.

We were close to the safety of the wards when my head felt like it was going to split in two. I winced at the light flashing behind my closed eyes and must've made some sort of noise as Dimitri squeezed the hand he was holding, concern covering his face. He was talking to me, but I couldn't make out the words he was saying. I bent over my hands squeezing my head hoping that the shattering would cease, as I realised what was coming. I forced myself to stand up, holding myself rigid as the apparition forming in front of us became more solid. Grinding my teeth I raised my eyes to see the ghostly outline of Tatiana, gasping at the anger and confusion washing over her features.

"Tatiana," I whispered barely, I could feel Dimitri take my hand, his eyes watching me and the space that held the former Queen.

She looked like she was trying to speak, and as I could see her frustration taking hold I explained to her, "I can't hear you, but if I ask you questions will you answer?" She nodded,

She looked at Dimitri regret covering her features, before she turned her face back to me. I had so many questions that I needed to ask her, so many things I needed to find out, but knowing that I only had a limited time with her I decided to get down to business.

"You wrote the note that Ambrose gave me?" I was holding my breath waiting for the answer, she nodded. My breathing returned to normal as I wrapped my head around the implications. All the questions I wanted answers to were jumbled around in my head as I tried to work out what I needed to know the most.

"Do you know about the stolen Alchemist files on Eric Dragomir?" again she nodded, "Do you know who stole them?" Looking frustrated she shook her head, "But you have your suspicions don't you?" She nodded.

"Is there anyone else that knows about Eric's other child?" I could still feel Dimitri watching me with his questioning eyes, I was holding my breath again. She nodded, as she did she seemed to shimmer and start to fade, knowing I was about to run out of time I quickly asked a final question, "Is the person you suspect and the person that knows of the child the same person?" She nodded emphatically, she was starting to disappear into the night, "Is it the same person that killed you?" the last thing I saw of her was her head moving up and down.

The ringing in my ears disappeared and my head although feeling a little like cotton wool didn't feel like it was going to crack open.

"Rose, are you ok?" Dimitri asked tentatively, I took a deep breath, released it then turned to face him. I nodded my mind racing with the knowledge I'd just been given, "What was that about Eric Dragomir's child?" I suddenly realised that Dimitri knew nothing about the note that Tatiana had written for me. Making a decision I lifted his hand to my face,

"Come on, I'll explain it all to you when we're back at the house, but right now I need to find Abe."

It dawned on me as we walked into the house, well mansion really, that other than Abe, Lissa, Christian and Dimitri I didn't know who else was here, and I still didn't know where here was. When Dimitri, still holding my hand, opened the front door, I could feel Lissa, she was sitting on a chaise lounge in what looked like a study, Christian was holding her and murmuring reassuring things to her. She was still upset about me yelling at her, but she was also curious about Dimitri taking off after me. He'd been in an adjoining room when he'd heard me yelling, opening the door to see Lissa standing there sobbing, watching me run down the stairs. He only stopped briefly to make sure she was ok before running down the stairs.

Deciding that I needed to talk to Abe before I spoke to her, we walked through the foyer toward the back of the house, Dimitri leading the way. Stopping briefly as we heard raised voices on the other side of the door, Dimitri pulled me to him and placed a brief kiss to my forehead, before pushing it open and walking through. When I looked up the first thing I noticed was the silence. Then as my eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness of the room they locked on the person sitting behind the oversized oak desk,

"Hello Rosemarie," as recognition set in I gasped.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey there, here's the next installment, again I hope you like it, we're slowly but surely getting there, lol. Once again I would like to say a HUGE thank you to the people that have left me feedback, it's thanks to your encouragement that I'm able to do this :-) I'd also like to thank everyone that's added me or the story to their favorties list, it really lets me know that this is all worth while :-D R.J.**

Chapter 15.

Victor Dashkov was leaning forward, arms resting on the desk, looking very smug and sure of himself.

I felt Dimitri become very tense, squeezing my now sweaty hand, as I turned to see the other two people occupying the room. Abe was pouring himself a drink at the carved dark oak, bar. Then my eyes turned to the person leaning against the large window that took up most of the wall, it was Adrian, looking very un-Adrian like. You could feel the anger vibrating from him. He was staring at Dimitri and my hands, linked together.

"Well I think that's my cue to leave," Adrian spat, as he pushed away from the wall, "Clearly I'm not needed." He sneered, Dimitri's body coiled, as if he was getting ready to attack. Still not saying anything I moved away from the door, making Dimitri move with me, standing between the two of them. As Adrian left his rage was evident, his eyes moving over me in disgust.

Inside I felt my insides twist, guilt building over the pain I'd just caused him. I wanted to go after him and apologise, I wanted him to yell at me and call me names, and I wanted to have the opportunity to explain the situation to him, but at that moment all I could do was watch him walk out the door, closing it with a sharp thud.

Victor let out a chuckle, "Well, that was rude. Never mind." I spun towards Abe,

"Would you mind explaining to me what the fuck he is doing here?" I asked between gritted teeth, calmly Abe took a mouthful of scotch,

"This is his house Rose," he simply stated. Trying very hard to remain calm myself, I nodded,

"Right," turning from Abe to Victor "and why are you helping us?" I could taste blood as I bit my tongue to stop myself from jumping over the desk and pummelling the smug look off his face.

"I believe you're looking for information about my dear departed friend Eric Dragomir," Looking at Abe I now understood, he was, after all, one of Eric Dragomir's closest friends.

"And what exactly are you hoping to get out of all this?" I asked my narrowed eyes flicking between my father and my enemy.

"Always so suspicious," I snorted and rolled my eyes, "What I will get, Rosemarie is of no concern to you, all you need worry about is that I have the information that you require." I furrowed my brow, watching Abe who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with me; I decided I'd deal with him later.

"Roza, what is going on?" Dimitri murmured near my ear, walking to the leather club chair facing Victor I leaned against the back of it.

"I have heard a rumour, that Eric Dragomir, Lissa's father, has fathered an illegitimate child." Looking for a reaction from Victor, "We need to find him or her, to enable Lissa to vote on the Council. So I guess that brings us to you," I turned my gaze back to Victor who was now leaning back in the leather executive chair, looking relaxed. "What do you know about all of this?"

He chuckled,

"I did ask your father where you heard all this, but he was very tight lipped about it all, I suppose you won't tell me your source either." I didn't respond, I simply stared him down.

"That's too bad. There are very few people who know about any of this, which is why it is so interesting that you know anything about it at all." He leaned forward and took a sip from his previously untouched whiskey. "It is true, there was a child, he was born before Eric had met Vasilisa's mother. Eric was young, and like his son, he liked to socialise and be seen at many social gatherings." The smirk on Victor's face pretty much said it all. "Long story short he got a non-royal Moroi woman pregnant. Nine months later she had a son, Ilia Zukov," I heard Dimitri inhale sharply. I gave him a quizzical look,

"Ah, I did wonder," Victor continued cryptically, "I guess I now have my answer," Not understanding what was going on I looked from Victor's smug face, to Dimitri's pained expression. "It would seem that former Guardian Belikov here knows the man you're looking for."

Dimitri looked uncomfortable, "What's wrong?" I asked quietly, his eyes caught mine, the pain obvious in his dark gaze.

"I know who he is," he started solemnly. "I met him while I was in Russia." I watched his features contort at some memory,

"Well that's a good thing isn't it?" I asked looking from my father, to Victor and back to Dimitri. None of them looked happy,

"Under normal circumstances, of course, it would make your job a lot easier, however there is one slight problem," Victor wore a pensive look, leaning back in the chair with his fingers steeped together, he looked like every villain cliché, I turned to Dimitri,

"What's he talking about?" Gathering his thoughts he turned to me and looked me directly in the eye,

"Ilia is Strigoi."


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi everyone, :-) so at the moment I'm averaging a chapter a day, so hopefully I can keep that up :-D keep those reviews coming too, thank you for all the positive feedback yet again :-D Cheers, R.J.**

Chapter 16.

I felt as though I'd fallen into a frozen lake. My stomach dropped, my mind went blank except for those three little words, _Ilia is Strigoi_.

I lunged toward my father, only to have Dimitri hold me back,

"You had better not have known about this." I was hissing my fury lacing every word, the look on Abe's face was clear,

"Of course I knew, that's why we're here. We were hoping that we could…" cutting him off I pulled free of Dimitri,

"What? You were hoping that you could change him back like Dimitri? That you could save him? Tell me something, did you know about this before you got me out of prison?" Zmey leaning against the bar, raised his glass and downed the scotch it contained, then he turned to me with a sardonic look on his face,

"What do you think? I have many connections throughout the world, and living in Russia it's not as though I didn't know who Ilia is." Dimitri placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed, both to restrain me and reassure me.

"Why bother getting me out then? I'm never going to put Lissa in that situation again." I was close to screaming at this stage, "It took too much out of her the last time, plus she…" I stopped abruptly feeling a finger of apprehension slither down my spine, "You're not planning on using Rose to do this are you?" my voice so quiet now it was almost a whisper, lifting my gaze I watched my father as he turned his head the other way, "No!" I turned to Victor, "There's no bloody way I'm risking him for this. It's not going to happen." Even though he probably hated me there was no way I would let Adrian do this, especially seen as he hadn't fully mastered the healing part of his spirit powers.

Victor scoffed, "Well I think you may be right over that one now," he all but mumbled under his breath. "It's too late anyway, things have already been set in motion." I could hear myself scream as I lunged at Victor, we both fell back onto the floor, my hands clamping around his throat,

"What have you done? What the fuck have you done?" Abe was pulling at my hands as Dimitri grabbed me around the waste and lifted me,

"Calm down Rose, we will work something out." He was murmuring in my ear. Still holding me he turned me around to face him, holding my shoulders. "It will be alright, we will make sure it will be." Fists clenched at my side I turned and faced the two men.

"Where is he?" I stared at them both on the floor, Victor was rubbing his bruised throat, it was clear where my hands had been.

"He was going to pack, then he was to leave and go to the airport. We are going to follow in a few days. But Rose, you can not come with us." I stared my father,

"Like hell I can't, there is no way that you're going without me." He stood up and sighed,

"Rose," my father looked at me sternly,

"Oh no Old Man, you have been absent out of my life for too long, to turn around and pull that Father knows best crap on me." I heard Dimitri chuckled behind me, "I am going." With that said I turned and walked out of the room slamming the door behind me.

I needed Lissa, it was time that I told her at least some of what was going on. I tentatively felt out her emotions through our bond, hoping that she wasn't in the throes of passion with Christian. I was in trouble, she wasn't with Christian intimately but she was with him, he was trying to calm her down. I groaned as I realised that she'd spoken with Adrian before he left. She was angry at me for hurting him, and for making him leave. But he hadn't told her, thankfully the other reason he was leaving in such a hurry.

Groaning to myself I reached the bottom of the stairs, before my hand was pulled and I was spun around into the hard muscled arms,

"Roza," he sighed, "Are you alright?" He pulled back to question me.

Nodding my head, "Yeah, I'm just great." I saw his lips twitch like he was trying not to smile. Rolling my eyes and pulling his arm as I ascended the stairs I turned to him,

"Come on, if I have to get yelled at, then the least you can do is suffer the same fate." Looking slightly confused, he looked above us,

"Lissa?" I laughed,

"Yeah, she's pretty pissed at me." Then more seriously, "She doesn't know about any of this, and as awful as I feel about it, I'm hoping that we can keep it that way until we're sure that everything is going to be fine." He nodded thoughtfully,

"You know she isn't going to let you leave without her again, not after last time." I nodded solemnly,

We stopped when we came to the door to Lissa's room. Preparing myself for what was about to come, it helped that I knew what she was thinking, and wiping the smirk off my face at the thought I knocked on the door and walked in.

"Look Lissa," that was all I got out before she stood and started in on Dimitri and me, she was stalking towards us, until Christian cut her off. Her eyes looked scary as she stared us down. Holding back the smirk that was lurking underneath the surface of my face, I couldn't get over how much she had changed, and how proud I was of her for the person she'd become.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," her voice was shrill as she yelled, "How could you hurt poor Adrian that way? How?" I turned and looked up at Dimitri standing next to me wearing a terse expression on his face and couldn't hold it back any longer, I started to giggle and then broke out in side splitting laughter, "None of this is very funny Rose. He's left because of you." After seeing the way that everyone was looking at me, like I was a crazy bag lady, I pulled myself together,

"Sorry, Lissa, it's just you sounded so…" Clearing my throat and wiping the amusement from my face I continued, "I know he left. And we never wanted to hurt him, I was going to come back and talk to him, but then I needed to talk to Abe first, so we went to find him. Then when we walked into the room Adrian was standing there and it was all too late, he left before I could speak to him and explain." The guilt I was feeling started to rear its ugly head once again. "And I know you aren't happy with me, but that was why I was coming to find you, I wanted to apologise for going off at you before." I stopped and looked at Dimitri. I could feel Lissa questioning me through the bond, _What about all the stuff that happened? Don't get me wrong I'm glad if you guys sort your stuff out, even if it has hurt Adrian, but you were really angry with him, what's changed?_ It was not for the first time that I wished she could feel what I was feeling. Knowing that now was not the time or the place to have this discussion with her especially with Christian and Dimitri in the room I decided I would seek her out later, before I left her here.

"I really am sorry," I said contritely, Christian then decided to pipe in, he started laughing. "What is so funny Fire Boy?" I glowered at him, hoping he'd feel my wrath,

"I can not believe that I have just been witness to Rose Hathaway apologising." He broke out in another laugh, which of course, unlike my laughter earlier, cleared the room of tension.

"Yeah well you'll have to remember it, it's not very often I'm wrong." Lissa smirked. I walked over to her, "I'm going to get something to eat, cause I am starving, but what about you and me get together later and do some girly stuff, paint our nails and what not?" I knew she wouldn't say no, she was always complaining about my lack of manicure, and how I wasn't taking proper care of my skin lately, it didn't matter that I'd been a little preoccupied with everything that had gone on. I gave her a smile, which obviously did the trick, because she closed the distance between us and wrapped me up in a hug,

"I hate having to get angry with you Rose, so please don't make me anymore," I pushed back the twinge of guilt I felt over leaving her again and nodded, "Come find me when you're ready, I have the perfect colour of nail polish for you."


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys, I just finished writing this chapter, and have quickly proofed it, so if there's any errors I'm sorry. Please review and let me know what you think. Cheers, R.J. ;-)**

Chapter 17.

It felt wrong, but I knew I had to do it, it was for Lissa's own safety. It was the middle of the day, which of course was the middle of the night for us. I was quickly throwing clothes in a duffle bag when I heard a soft tap at the door. Knowing it was Dimitri I let him in.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him, he nodded, walked through the door and shut it quietly behind him. "Shouldn't one of us stay here to look after Lissa? If not from Strigoi, but from Victor?" Although he kept his face passive I could see the mix of his emotions for Lissa melt together in his dark eyes. Which still made me feel funny inside.

"I spoke to your father, he says that she will be safe here with Christian and he is leaving some of his men here for her protection." I wasn't happy that Abe and Dimitri had talked, again, without me being there. Abe was pretty much a mobster and Dimitri has always been so straight laced, it seemed to me they wouldn't want to like each other. In fact from what I can tell seeing the two of them interact, I think they only tolerate each other for my sake, unlike Abe and Adrian, before I was accused of killing Adrian's Aunt.

"How did you go with Lissa last night?" He asked smiling at my dark purple fingernails. I admired the colour knowing that it wouldn't be long and it would wear away and chip, such is the glamorous life of a Guardian,

"Not bad, we painted out nails, gave each other facials, gossiped about boys. You know, the usual." He arched his eyebrow, how I wished I could pull that sardonic look off,

"So, are you going to tell me about this boy gossip?" I looked like I was pondering his question,

"Not likely," I scoffed, "We women need to be able to keep some secrets from you men," I gave him a flirty grin and winked.

I pulled the zipper closed on the duffel bag, looked around the room one last time, then turned to face the man I loved, heart pumping at the situation we found ourselves in once again. I looked at his smiling face and thought about the last time that Dimitri and I were together as a couple, just before he was turned Strigoi. He lifted his finger and placed it at the wrinkle between my brows,

"That is one serious look, what are you worrying about?" I locked my eyes on his. My eyes roved over his dark eyebrows that arched over his eyes, his almost perfect nose, his strong chin and jaw, covered in just a hint of dark growth, his lips which I knew were soft and seductive, then up to the mesmerizing depths of his chocolate brown eyes. I memorised every part of his face, "What is it Roza?" My heart ached with how much I loved him.

"I want you to make me a promise," I know my feelings were probably written like a book all over my face, but I didn't care. "We've finally found each other again, please, please promise me that I won't lose you again." His hands cupped my face,

"My precious Roza," he lowered his mouth to mine, pressing sweet kisses to tease my senses, "I promise I won't leave you again." He continued to kiss me, opening me as he took the kiss deeper, making me feel like I was the most treasured jewel in the world.

My hands ran up the muscles of his stomach, where they had been pressed between us, over his well built chest and wrapped around his corded neck, his hands were wrapped in my hair, then he lowered his right hand to my hip, pulling me closer to him. The slow burn that was building between us, lit up like an inferno, all of a sudden it was like we couldn't get close enough to each other, our hands roamed each other mapping our bodies.

Although it had been a long time since we'd last been this close to each other, our bodies remembered it like it was yesterday. He remembered where to touch me to make me gasp, and I knew where to kiss him to make him groan.

We somehow ended up on the bed, wrapped around each other, parting briefly to fill our heaving lungs with oxygen, he looked at me intently, searching my eyes for an unspoken answer to an unspoken question. In that moment I felt so exposed, but I didn't care, I was with Dimitri again.

"Are you sure you want to do this Roza?" his voice was as ragged as his breathing. His eyes had turned molten. Not able to reply I bit my bottom lip and nodded, then leaned up to kiss him again, using my hands to lift his shirt up his back and over his head. He leaned down and was kissing my belly button, when I thought I heard something, forgetting about it when he started to kiss his way up my abdomen.

I thought I heard the sound again, but looking at Dimitri I ignored it once again as he was about to reach the bottom of my bra,

"Rose? Is Dimitri in.,,What the hell?" Lifting my head I turned toward the door, to see my father standing there, his face turning red, his eyes turning from curious over Dimitri's where about to furious in a matter of seconds, and his scary gaze was focused on a half naked Dimitri, who was still hovering over my naked stomach.

I grimaced and couldn't help but state the obvious, "Well this is awkward."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18.

I could feel my cheeks burning, they felt like they were bright red. Dimitri pushed himself off me and was grabbing his shirt off the floor, I sat up and pulled my shirt down. Abe had turned around and pulled the door too, standing out in the hall.

I cleared my throat, looking at Dimitri I quietly called out for Abe,

"Ah, it's safe to come in now." He pushed the door open and walked back in.

His ferocious gaze locked in on Dimitri again, pushing off the bed I walked over to stand between the two men, just in case Abe, who looked like he wanted to, tried to take Dimitri on. "I'm not even going to comment on what's going on here," he started, sounding eerily calm, "But I will let you know," his eyes still locked on Dimitri, "If you ever hurt her again, I will come after you boy, even if it means the end of the friendship between our families." His jaw was tense, as he held his temper in check, he looked like he was about to continue before I cut him off,

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, you'll cut his balls off and all the rest of it," rolling my eyes I turned to Dimitri and smiled, "Seen as we're both consenting adults, I'd say that's the end of that conversation. So what can we do for you? We were just getting ready to leave, I mean before we got, distracted."

Composing himself, Abe turned his still frosty gaze to me, "I was coming to find you to let you know that the car is here and we're leaving in five minutes." I nodded,

"Ok, well we'll see you downstairs in five minutes then." Giving Dimitri another icy stare he walked out closing the door behind him.

Releasing a breath a didn't realise I was holding, I turned toward Dimitri, who still looked a little embarrassed, I doubled over laughing, one side of his lips lifted,

"This isn't funny Rose, that was your _father._" Straightening, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"And? It's not like what goes on between us is any of his business," I gave him a flirty grin, "From what I can remember, it only needs to be between you and me." He groaned in frustration before brushing his lips softly over my forehead. Closing my eyes, I heard him inhale,

"Roza, one day you will understand why I need your father to respect me, but until then, we have to get going." He briefly kissed my lips before leaning over and picking up the discarded duffel bag and started walking towards the door. I stood there, mesmerised by his movements. He stopped and caught me watching him over his shoulder, grinning, "Are you coming?" snapping myself out of my slightly lust fuelled daze I followed him out of the room.

As Dimitri drove us to the private airfield, Abe passed me a brown envelope. Opening it I found a passport, licence and birth certificate, "They're your documents for while we're travelling." I nodded opening the passport to see my face staring back at me, I looked at the name,

"What's this? Bengül?" Abe smiled, before pronouncing it correctly,

"It means _I am the Rose_ in Turkish." I smiled, not knowing how I should respond I went through the rest of the documents.

The flight was pretty uneventful, making the most of the opportunity we slept. A couple of hours into the flight I stood up to stretch my legs, walking towards the back of the plane I noticed that Abe was awake, looking through some documents. Curious I sat down next to him.

"What's that?" I lifted the sheets that he'd already read through.

"These are the original copies of the Alchemist's records. I'm just going through them to see if there's anything that sticks out." There were bank statements, legal documents, business papers as well as family records to do with Lissa, her brother and her mother.

"Can you see anything yet?" he looked a little perplexed, and he was concentrating pretty hard on the documents in front of him,

"There are a couple of things that I'm going to look into when we land," I sighed, deciding that he wasn't going to elaborate.

"You know I should be pissed at you." He lowered the papers and turned in his chair so he could face me,

"Why? I only did as you asked." Realising he was right, I was even more annoyed. "The way I see it Rose, we needed his information. You broke the man out of prison to get what you wanted. What's the difference?"

"There isn't one." I sighed again, "You realise you can't go around threatening every male in my life." This time he sighed,

"Just because you think I've been absent from your life, Rose, doesn't mean that I get to miss out on all my parental duties." He chuckled, then became sombre in the blink of an eye, "Besides, I would have said something even if you weren't my flesh and blood. I saw how much it tore you down when he wouldn't have anything to do with you, especially after all you gave up and did for him. No one should have to suffer like that needlessly, and I'm not about to sit idly by and let it happen again. So I'm sorry that you think I'm involving myself where I shouldn't, but that's not about to change."

I didn't know how to respond to him when he was like this, when he was being all Fatherly, so I nodded, stood and walked back to my seat next to a still slumbering Dimitri. He looked so peaceful, it was hard to forget how fearsome he was as a Strigoi, but it was also hard to forget how much I loved him even when he was turned. I slowly drifted off to sleep again with my head resting on Dimitri's shoulder.

Not long after the pilot announced that we were starting our decent into St. Petersburg. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes, wondering if it was going to be like this every time I flew into Russia, still chasing after a Strigoi, Still chasing after a man and still having my future depend on finding him.


	19. Author's Note

Authors Note:

Hi everyone,

Once again I would just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews, and reiterate that if it's because of these kind words that I am encouraged to write the way I am. So THANK YOU .

This is just a quick note to ask of you, if you are enjoying this story to tell your friends about it. I am really starting to get into this whole writing thing, and would love to be able to share my thoughts of how the book will be, with as many people as possible.

So keep the reviews coming and I hope that you enjoy where I'm taking the story.

Cheers,

R.J. ;-)

P.S. I will hopefully have the next chapter up later today/tonight.


	20. Chapter 19

**Hi everyone, I just thought I'd let you all know that I'm going to try REALLY hard to get the next chapter up tonight because I'm probably not going to be able to write anything tomorrow. That said, after a day of shopping and watching _The Twilight Saga: Eclipse_, yet again lol, I may just be inspired to whip out another chapter. Please, please, please keep those reviews coming and I hope you enjoy the next chapter. Cheers, R.J. ;-)**

Chapter 19.

Sitting in the hotel room, I was chewing on my bottom lip, thinking.

I'd just checked in with Lissa, she was really angry with me, which I could feel through the bond. She had cried for hours when she'd woken up and realised that we were gone, Christian, who also wasn't happy about being left behind, had sat with her and tried to calm her down, I wasn't sure if she would ever forgive me for the way we had left. It had taken Mia to get her out of her funk, they were now in the gym at the house practicing their fighting and magic skills. I always got a funny feeling in my stomach when I thought about her fighting.

I knew Christian could hold his own, I'd seen him in action, but after seeing her up against the Strigoi when she'd staked Dimitri, it made my heart pound. In all honesty it completely freaked me out and I plain didn't like it.

None of them had heard from Adrian. He hadn't visited my dreams, not that it surprised me, but I hadn't heard from Abe if he'd heard from him either. I was under instructions from Abe to not leave the hotel room until he returned. He hadn't said where he'd gone or how long he'd be. Dimitri was asleep in one of the bedrooms, and not being in the mood to watch Russian TV I was staring at the view out the window, remembering the last time I had been here. And how the circumstances and people involved may be different but the goal was pretty much the same. Find Ilia and stake him. My stomach twisted again at the thought of Adrian getting that close to a Strigoi. I hadn't much liked the thought of Lissa doing it with Dimitri either, but Adrian was most definitely a lover not a fighter, and unlike with Lissa we didn't have Christian or Mia there to help if or when we needed. I could hear a phone ringing. Standing I walked through the suite to find, the shrill sounding handset.

"Hello?" I didn't know if I was supposed to be answering the phone or not, but I figured if it was Abe then I'd better. There was silence on the other end. "Hello?" there was a pause then,

"Rose? Is that you?" I recognised the voice, she sounded anxious and concerned, which automatically put me on alert.

"Sydney, what's wrong?" She sobbed,

"Oh , thank God, where's Abe?"

"He's out, I don't know where or for how long." She actually sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "Sydney, what is it?" I was trying to keep my voice calm, but wasn't being very successful.

"I...I need help." I was already planning in my head what I needed to grab before leaving the room. As I continued to coax information out of her I scribbled a note to leave for Abe and Dimitri on the Notepad with the hotel emblem on it.

I then flipped over to a blank page. "Where are you?" by now she was crying,

"I...I'm..." there was a muffled noise,

Then there was a thick Russian accent, that compared to Dimitri's was like ice down my spine as he spoke to me,

"Hello Rose Hathaway," I felt nauseous. The bile from my stomach was actually burning my throat.

"Who is this?" He gave a blood curdling laugh, my hand hurt as it squeezed the phone,

"Do not worry yourself with those types of details, just know if you would like to see the Alchemist alive again you should do exactly as I say." I closed my eyes trying to compose myself and biting my tongue from making some kind of smart ass comment about how cliché the whole Russian bad guy thing was.

"I'm listening."

"Good girl," I pulled a face and tensed my jaw, "I have heard a lot about you Rose. As such I wish to meet with you.

"Since the weather is so nice I feel like a walk, shall we say the out the front of the Church on Spilled Blood? It seems appropriate. One hour, you will find your way. And Rose, please do come alone." With that the phone went dead.


	21. Chapter 20

**Well I did it! :-) Another chapter down...as usual, let me know what you think ;-) R.J.**

Chapter 20.

_What the hell had I been thinking?_ It was a fair question to be asking myself, I'd run out of the hotel without a single thought about a plan, I had no idea what to expect. And now I was wishing I had stopped to think things through, and let myself at least absorb the situation.

The weather had turned quickly from a warm summer day to a stormy, wet evening. The moment I had set foot outside the hotel, the dark night sky had been lit with forks of lightning that were echoed by the sounds of thunder and pouring rain. I was drenched through, my hair plastered to my face as I watched the lights reflect off the canal. The church was magnificent, lit up, looking like a Christmas tree with the colourful and bauble like roof, and just as magical.

The rain and time of night had dispersed any tourists, I was alone. The only other light came from the street lights. I was on edge, and once again checked my watch for the time. I'd left the hotel as soon as I'd hung up the phone, so I had arrived in plenty of time hoping that would give me an advantage.

All of a sudden I started to feel sick to my stomach, the hairs on my arms stood on end. It took me less than a second to realise what was coming, Strigoi. I automatically reached for my stake. Although it wasn't my personal stake, the one that someone had used to kill the queen, it was a stake none the less. Turning to face the monster I knew was behind me I prepared myself to attack. My blood turned to ice.

I'll never forget the shock of the first moment that I had set eyes on Dimitri after he'd been turned. He'd looked the same, until you got to his eyes, they had been turned from warm velvet brown to the colour of crimson. What I saw now however caused just as big a shock. There was no doubt in my mind who it was, he was tall and well built, his shoulder length blonde hair was plastered to his head, water dripping off the ends onto his drenched leather jacket. I recognised his nose and mouth and wondered what colour his eyes would be if they weren't tinged with red. It was like looking at a male version of Lissa. It _was_ the male version of Lissa. It was Ilia Zukov.

As he moved out of the shadows I could see he wasn't alone, there were three other Strigoi with him, all of them with pale skin, dark hair and eyes the colour of blood. One of them was dragging Sydney behind him.

"Shit" I'd really fucked up this time. I would have to do what I could to protect Sydney, but the bottom line was I couldn't kill Ilia. That said, I didn't exactly know how I was going to take on four Strigoi by myself anyway. I was screwed.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," Ilia had stopped near one of the lamp posts, he wore a smug grin that was creepy with the points of his fangs showing. I was forcing myself not to be sick as the nausea gripped me, trying to prepare myself for what was to come. "We meet at last." He looked amused with himself,

"I hope I'm worth all the hype then," I forced myself to smile back, trying to disarm him.

"Well I happen to think the person that I heard all about you from may have been a little biased." Again with the knowing grin, it was really starting to piss me off now. Deciding I'd had enough of this nonsense, I wanted to get down to business.

"Now that I'm here you need to let Sydney go." Ilia looked over his shoulder at Sydney. Her usually neat and smooth hair was falling all over the place, she looked unusually pale and dirty, I was trying to see if she had bite marks anywhere, "If you've bitten her I swear to God I'll knock your fucking head off." I spat out through my clenched teeth at the Strigoi holding her. He growled at me,

"Enough Nikolay, do not be so rude." Ilia reprimanded Nikolay, who sneered at me, showing me his fangs.

The weather chose that moment to turn worse, the rain started falling harder, the occasional lightning strike lighting up the sky. The rain was so loud that it wiped out the sound of the thunder, which effectively put a halt to any further banter between Ilia and me.

I barely saw the flick of his hand that was obviously the signal for the other two Strigoi to attack. Their movements so fast, their actions so fierce I was fighting them off without thinking, my body was moving using pure instinct. I swerved and dodged, blocked and feinted, putting all my training and skill to use.

Through my concentration and over all the noise I heard Sydney scream. That microsecond that my attention was pulled elsewhere was all they needed. I was grabbed by the arm and pushed to the ground. My head hit the pavers, making bright lights appear before my eyes, before the pain set in. The next thing I knew his hand was around my throat my breath cut off as his hand squeezed harder. I was still struggling, trying to pin or kick him with my legs, all the while I couldn't work out why he hadn't ripped my throat out yet?

All I could see where his eyes, so angry, so not human, they seemed to be glowing with pleasure at my struggle. I could feel the muscles in my neck bruise as he tightened his grip. My lungs were burning from the lack of oxygen.

_Well this is great_. _I'm going to die_.


	22. Chapter 21

**Hi everyone, sorry I didn't get a chance to write anything yesterday, so here's todays chapter, I hope you like it. Let me know what you think :-) R.J.**

Chapter 21.

I felt panic, and sheer terror. I could see myself lying on the ground, the Strigoi's hand clamped around my throat. Nikolay still holding onto Sydney by the arm, but I stood there frozen to the spot. My eyes locked on Ilia. It was then I realised that it was Lissa seeing this. I felt the panic course through my own body, knowing that she was here, this close to danger and then everything happened so quickly.

The Strigoi that had me pinned to the ground started to scream eerily, releasing his hand from my throat, as I realised his head was on fire. Forcing myself back to my own body I quickly took advantage of the situation. Grabbing the silver stake from my waist I slid it between the Strigoi's ribs forcefully, all the while gasping for air painfully. I felt light headed as the rush of oxygen filled my aching lungs, there were lights behind my eyes again, as I fought to stay conscious. Adrenalin took over as I stood on still shaky legs, I could feel it flow through my veins as I assessed the situation in front of me.

Nikolay was kneeling on the ground clawing at his face as Christian made the flames dance around his contorted features. Jolting myself into action I sprinted toward the lit up Strigoi and slammed the stake through his chest, piercing his heart in one smooth movement. Without thinking I moved on to face the remaining threat, Mia had incapacitated him enough that all I had to do was once again push the silver through his heart. When the final Strigoi collapsed to the ground I turned to find Ilia. He still stood in the same place he'd been when the fight had started, but his red gaze was locked on Lissa, as Lissa's was locked on his.

I could feel her confusion, fear and panic as she stared into the eyes of her brother.

Breaking the spell I stepped in front of Lissa, Ilia hissing at me.

"I wouldn't go near her if I was you Ilia." The familiar Russian accent washed over me as Dimitri stepped out of the shadows, "Well not if you want to continue your existence."

Spinning toward Dimitri, red eyes blazing, teeth bared, my heart rate sped up. Recognition washed over Ilia's demented features. He snarled again, then he spun on his heel in a wave of blonde hair, and disappeared into the park across from the church.

I felt like I was going to collapse, I sat on the lip on the pavement before my legs gave out. It hurt to swallow, it hurt to breathe, and it hurt to move my head. I still couldn't work out how I was alive, why my throat hadn't been ripped out, or my head decapitated. I started to shake as I realised how close I'd come to dying. Dimitri was leaning down to pick me up, he cradled me in his arms, pressing a kiss to my forehead as a dark cloud washed over me. I felt anger course through me, and realised it was from Lissa. I winced as I turned my head toward her, to see the pain and confusion in her eyes. Christian was walking toward us,

"What…?" he started then stopped, his brow furrowed, he shook his head, then tried again, "Who…?" Dimitri just shook his head,

"Let's get back to the hotel, bring Sydney with you. We'll talk more once we're safe and made sure that Sydney and Rose are alright." I curled up to his neck, inhaling the spicy scent that was only Dimitri's as I closed my eyes and fisted my hands in his shirt at the pain that moving caused me.

It felt like hours later, but in reality it was only fifteen minutes, we walked through the lobby of the hotel and into the elevator. Dimitri was still holding me to his strong chest, and I was still clinging to him. No one had said a word since we started to make our way back. We disembarked the elevator and walked through suite into the lounge room and stopped. Lifting my head I saw Abe was standing at the window looking out over the city, while Adrian was seated at the bar and had stilled the movement of the drink on its path to his lips as we entered the room.

"What the hell happened?" My father's voice thundered darkly, I tried to use my voice, but it came out as a squeak.

No one said anything as Dimitri lowered me to one of the soft leather club chairs. I winced as he rested my head on some pillows. Abe turned then, walking toward me, looking furious. "You stupid girl," he sounded angry, but the concern in his eyes belied his reaction. "You could have been killed." He was inspecting my neck now,

"She almost was when we found her," Christian murmured. Anger contorted Abe's face again,

"Do you have a death wish?" his voice was bouncing around my skull, "Because if you remember correctly we're doing all of this to stop you from being killed." He then raised his head to look at Christian, Lissa and Mia, "I suppose he knows that she's here now too doesn't he?" I closed my eyes in response, frustrated that I couldn't yell at him. Dimitri nodded solemnly.

"What are you three doing here?" And there was the million dollar question. Lissa finally spoke,

"We were worried, and we wanted to help." She said frostily, "Victor wasn't any help in locating you. So Christian hacked into his computer and found the flight details, as well as the hotel booking for here." She stopped to take a deep breath, trying to reel back her anger,

"Our car was pulling up to the hotel when we saw Rose take off toward the Metro, so we went after her. We lost her when we hadn't realised that she got off at the previous station, so we went back. When we found her at _Khram Spasa na Krovi_," She let out an ironic sounding laugh, "The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood, she was pinned to the ground by a Strigoi, while trying to save Sydney." She was looking at me now, I felt the darkness wash over me again, mixed in with my pain and guilt it was a heady mix. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes, trying to breath deeply.

"Now I want some answers," Lissa said looking between Adrian, Abe, Dimitri and me, "Who the hell was that? And why the fuck does he look like me?" If I wasn't under the influence of Lissa's feelings I would have been taken aback over her cursing, but as the circumstances were I felt drained.

I looked pointedly at Abe. He very slightly shook his head, hardly moving it at all. There was a movement toward the bar, then a drunk Adrian staggered over and leant on a chair identical to the one I was lying on. He didn't look great, he looked like hell.

"For Christ's sake, she's going to find out anyway," he blurted out, then turning to look at Lissa he slurred, "He's your brother." I heard her gasp, felt her emotions and then heard her turn and walk out of the room, slamming the door behind her.


	23. Chapter 22

**You've got to love the weekend, don't you? With my husband playing with the kids I was able to let the words flow, and quickly get the next chapter done. I hope you're still enjoying it :-) R.J.**

Chapter 22.

Christian took off after her, but throwing in anguish with the feelings that Lissa was throwing at me I couldn't lie there anymore. I stood up, walked over to Adrian and punched him in the jaw, knocking him to the floor. Then I pushed past Dimitri, walking toward the door. Sydney was there shivering and pale. I looked at Abe and then motioned toward her, trying to indicate that someone should see if she was alright, and to also try and find out what had happened that she ended up in that situation in the first place. All these things are hard to communicate when you can't talk and you feel like you're going to explode in a ball of anger.

Before I could move again, Dimitri was standing in the door way holding the door open for me. "I know that you're suffering from Lissa's spirit use, on top of everything else." he said quietly to me as we walked down the hall toward the stairwell that led to the roof. I gave him a sideways look that said 'don't mess with me right now,' obviously not getting the hint he continued to follow me, until we walked through the door to the stairwell. The he grabbed me and pinned me against the wall.

Under normal circumstances I would love nothing more than to be pushed up against Dimitri's muscular body, but as he said Lissa's Spirit use was taking hold, and I was fast becoming inconsolable. We now knew that Lissa needed to heal me to make it go away, but that was only a quick fix. We also knew that charms helped to keep the vicious side effect away. However right now I had neither.

"Rose, you need to calm down, and if you don't do it yourself then I'm going to have to distract you." He was whispering the words in my ear as he grabbed my hands that were trying to push him away and held them together over my head. My skin broke out in goosebumps and I shivered. He very gently began kissing my jaw just below my ear, I closed my eyes as lust began to take over. He was kissing his way along my jaw, holding my hands with one of his, the other sliding down my arm to brush against my bruised neck, and then further down the side of my body until it ended up at my hip, pulling me against him.

My breathing was becoming ragged, he slowly and tenderly kissed my mouth, I pushed up against him, tangling my tongue with his. He released my hands so I could wrap them around his shoulders as he lifted me so I was able to wrap my legs around his hips. My hands running through his hair, I moaned into his mouth. Pulling back abruptly he put me down, cupping my face,

"Did I hurt you?" There was so much anguish in his voice, I pushed up on my toes and kissed him gently, shaking my head, giving him a small smile. He released the breath he was holding, before rubbing my arms. I grabbed hold of his hand kissing the back of it as I tangled his fingers with mine, pulling him along with me as we made our way up the stairs to the roof.

Lissa was sitting with Christian holding her, it seemed as though he was having to do that an awful lot lately, I didn't like seeing her like this, and I could imagine that he didn't either.

"Lissa," I managed to get out hoarsely, she slowly raised her head to look at me, tears running down her cheeks to meet at her chin, "There's so much that I need to explain to you." It was excruciating trying to talk, but she needed to know what had happened. "Ambrose came to me just before I was taken to the cells, he gave me a note that said that you had a brother," I decided that at the moment it would be best to abbreviate, especially with her being so angry and upset and with my voice barely holding out, I figured I could go into more detail later. "The day you got me out there, I'd told Abe about the letter, he then went and spoke to Victor, who told him about Ilia, and how he is a Strigoi. Then stupidly, Abe, Victor and Adrian got together and decided that they could stake him and bring him back, like you did with Dimitri," Lissa looked so pale and stunned, "It was then that Dimitri and I walked in and found out what was planned." She lifted her sad eyes to look at me,

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked dejectedly, "I had a right to know. I should have known." She started to cry again.

"I'm sorry Lissa." She buried her head in Christian's shoulder, he was giving me an icy glare over her head.

"I think you should give her a little space to try and sort this all out, we'll come and find you when she's feeling up to it." I just nodded and walked with Dimitri close behind me back to the stairwell and back to the suite to deal with the mess I'd caused before I walked out.


	24. Chapter 23

**Hi again everyone. Woo hoo...Well it looks as though the writing bug bit me today :-P your thoughts/opinions as usual are always welcome. R.J.**

Chapter 23.

I hadn't had a decent sleep since I was in the cell, and even then it wasn't the best, or most relaxing I'd ever had. By the time we made it to one of the bedrooms I was leaning heavily on Dimitri, my eyes kept dipping closed against my will. My clothes were still soaked through from the bad weather, and I was shivering.

"Roza, you need to warm up and get into some dry clothes." He sat me at an upholstered chair in front of a desk and disappeared for a few minutes. Then he returned, lifted me from the chair and carried me into the bathroom that adjoined the room. Sitting me down on the vanity he undressed me and sat me in the hot bath, trying to stop my body from the violent spasms racking my body.

I don't know how long I'd been in there for, I kept drifting off to sleep, but I vaguely remembered him turning the tap to fill the tub with more hot water. I remember him washing my hair, massaging my scalp and telling me how much he loves my hair. I woke in the huge bed covered in layers of blankets. I settled back into the soft feather pillows and succumbed to sleep again.

I fell into a deep sleep, and when I woke, sitting straight up, rubbing my throat, heart pounding. I felt disorientated, stiff and very sore. Although I seemed to be able to swallow again, and I must've been able to make some noise, because Dimitri was sitting next to me pulling me into his arms, rocking me backwards and forwards whispering that it was alright. As I inhaled his scent I felt myself relax. Dimitri laid down and I placed my head on his chest, curling myself into his side. Listening to his heart beat soothed me, my breathing started to return to normal.

"Roza, are you ok? Do you need anything?" I didn't want him to move,

"No, I'm fine." I replied sounding hoarse.

We didn't move for a long time, I just lay there my face brushing up against the dark cotton of his shirt. Eventually my body had needs which needed to be answered, so I untangled myself from him and slipped from the bed. I walked silently into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. After doing what I needed to do I walked over to the sink, running water over my hands I looked at my reflection in the mirror, and flinched at the person staring back at me. I'd been bruised and bloodied before, but somehow this was different. I examined my neck, I could swear that if you looked close enough you'd be able to see the fingerprints etched into my skin. The bruise was varied in colour, starting at a lovely yellowish colour on the outside turning to brown and ending up a dark, almost black colour in the worst spots. Looking at it I felt numb, Abe had scolded me over how close I'd come to dying at the hands of the monster, and yet it still bothered me how the Strigoi hadn't attacked. I was still pondering this when I walked back into the bedroom and rummaged through my bag pulling out jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. Dressing quickly I pulled out my brush and ran it through my hair, then leaving Dimitri to sleep, followed the scent of food and what I hoped was some strong coffee.

I knew Lissa was still asleep, I really wished that she wasn't feeling as betrayed and hurt by everything that had happened, but I'd have to deal with that later when she would talk to me again.

Walking through the lounge room, I saw the view of the city outside the window, and was amazed at how beautiful it was all lit up, and smiled to myself as I continued into the dining room, stopping when I saw the only other person there was Adrian. A very sullen looking Adrian with a dark bruise down one side of his jaw.

I walked over to the coffee and poured myself a cup, added milk and sugar then went to sit at the table. I wasn't even sure if he was aware that I was in the room, or if he was just plain ignoring me, but I couldn't stand the deafening silence echoing around the room anymore.

"How's the jaw?" He looked up startled, eyes wide,

"Ok." He mumbled, _great so we're onto monosyllabic answers are we?_ I just nodded in acknowledgement.

I wanted to talk to him about what had happened at Victor's with Dimitri, but I really didn't know where to start or what to say.

Before I could say anything Christian walked in the room, heading directly to the coffee. By the glow to his skin, he must've already eaten, if you get my drift. The atmosphere seemed to intensify further,

"How is she?" He sat across from me, jaw clenched, trying to rein in his anger.

"How do you think she is Rose? Her best friend, who promised, by the way, to not leave her behind again, up and leaves in the middle of the night after we bust her out of jail, only to be found in the grips of death, all at the hands of her illegitimate brother that said best friend, knew about and kept secret. Oh and to top it all off her illegitimate brother has turned Strigoi, so again, how do you think she is Rose?" I couldn't look at him, and I didn't want to lash out at his sarcasm, so instead I studied the table, following the lines in the wood.

"You have to know that I only did what I thought was best for her, I did what I had to, to protect her. Well in regards to me leaving you at Victor's at least." I sighed, "Ilia on the other hand is a little more complicated." I grimaced. Lifting my gaze from the table I locked eyes with him,

"I understand why you left us behind Rose, I get it, and in some ways even appreciate that you tried not to put her in harms way again, but you need us, and I'm not going to get started on the whole fucked up situation with this Ilia, the whole thing hits a little too close to home for my liking." He was right about that, his parents had chosen to become Strigoi, Christian had been living with his Aunt when his parents came back to try and change him. Tasha now wears the battle scars of protecting Christian from the same fate, so if anyone could understand what it was like having a relative that had turned, he could.

"I'm glad that she has you Christian." I said quietly before standing to leave the room. I only took a few steps before I stopped and turned to Adrian, who had hardly moved since I'd arrived, "If you go anywhere near that bar, mini-fridge or liquor cabinet again Adrian, so help me God, I will kick your ass. And next time it won't be just a love tap to the chin. I know everything is messed up right now, and when things are sorted we will talk about it. But you need to have your head in the fucking game." I was watching him intently, he stared at me, looking like a surly child,

"You volunteered to do this?" It wasn't so much a question cause I already knew the answer, but he nodded his head none the less, "Then you need to get your shit together and prepare yourself for what you have to face, you think you can still do that?" His face transformed into an aggravated scowl,

"I'll be ready, Rose, just make sure that you don't fuck up again." I decided to ignore his barb and left the room to look for Abe.


	25. Chapter 24

**Hey there, I just want to say yet again, thank you for the awesome reviews, you have no idea how happy it makes me knowing that you guys like the story :-D Cheers, R.J.**

Chapter 24.

I found my father out on the balcony, he was watching the last of the sun's rays peek through the dense cloud as it sank below the horizon. "We need to talk." Well that took me by surprise, I chuckled uncertainly,

"You think?" There were so many things that needed to be discussed, so where to start. I stood there silently hoping that Abe would begin. After a pensive few moments he started speaking again.

"What you did yesterday, going after Sydney by yourself, was stupid, and thoughtless. I know I wasn't here, but you could have at least taken Dimitri with you." His voice was filled with suppressed anger, he was obviously trying to restrain himself so we could actually have a discussion. "Didn't you even stop to think that it might be a trap?" I stood there gob smacked, mouth open.

"No! You don't get to be mad at me Abe. You don't get to stand there and be all sanctimonious about this, because in hind sight, yes, I made a mistake. Going out by myself was stupid, but I couldn't just let Sydney die. She may not like us, but she has helped me and you, a lot, so I didn't think, I did what I felt was right. I did what needed to be done, and yes I did have a close call yesterday, but it turned out alright in the end didn't it?" His face turned as his eyes looked over my bruised neck. It was then that something he'd said floated through my mind,

"What you said, about it being a trap, I think you might be right." He turned and faced me then, "I've been going over it in my head, if it wasn't a trap, they wouldn't have kept Sydney alive, and I sure as hell wouldn't be standing here now." Anger contorted his features again as I continued, "I kept thinking that it wasn't right, even when they had hold of me they didn't try to bite me, they didn't rip my throat out. I was just pinned down. I don't think they were going to kill me, I think Sydney was bait, for a bigger fish, me, and I think I was supposed to bait too. But the question is for who?" I was lost in my own thoughts trying to wrap my brain about everything,

"I might be able to answer that question for you." I jumped and spun around, suprised to see Mia standing framed by the door.

"What do you know about any of this?" I didn't mean to sound so sceptical but I couldn't help it.

She smiled exultantly, walking over to join Abe and I near the railing, "Back at Victor's, before he left Adrian came and saw me. He told me about coming here and what he needed to do, but he couldn't work out how to get Ilia to come to him. I figured if he was a Strigoi and in Russia, then perhaps he'd know Dimitri. I also know about the mayhem that you and Dimitri caused in Siberia, so I told Adrian to let it slip that you two were here, as for how Ilia knew about Sydney, that is really beyond me." I nodded thoughtfully, impressed that Mia had been able to come up with something like that.

"Wait. You said that you know about Siberia, how'd you find out any of that stuff? I mean, I haven't told anyone what happened, and I doubt Dimitri has either." She shook her head,

"Oh Rose, it was a power play, there were high up Strigoi killed and Dimitri had been holding you there, it was only a matter of time before the rumours started to trickle down into our world." I was still stunned that she knew any of this.

"Anyway, that's all beside the point now. I know where he is." That made me do a double take, Abe's head flicked around to her direction just as fast as mine.

"What? How?" She smirked,

"With everything going on here last night I figured you guys wouldn't notice if someone was missing." She rolled her eyes and sighed, looking like a twelve year old, "I went back to the church, and had a bit of a wander around. I couldn't find anything, so I then decided that I'd make the most of my freedom and went to the Summer Garden, I love the statues of the Gods and what not. So I was walking through and it was still raining, so I decided I'd head back, before I froze to death, I was walking close to the Tea House, when I saw a figure pacing in front of the statue that's there, that writer or what ever he was," She looked at Abe,

"You mean the monument to Ilya Krylov?" She nodded,

"Yeah that's the one, anyway as I got closer I recognised him, Lissa's brother, so I stayed back a bit and hid in the trees. He just paced for a good ten minutes then he left the park. I followed him, from a distance of course. He's at the Peter and Paul Fortress." I looked to Abe,

"Well let's go get him." Abe shook his head,

"No it's too risky, there are so many places he could be hiding over there. No we need to get him to meet us somewhere that we have the upper hand, and now he's seen Lissa he's going to be curious, so it's only a matter of time before he pops up again. We need to get him out of the city, away from people, somewhere that we know, but he doesn't." Realising where he was going with this I shook my head,

"Oh no, no, no no." He smiled at me,

"But I thought you said you wanted to go back?" I did, and he knew it, but I didn't exactly mean under these circumstances.

"Fine, whatever, but we're going to have to make sure that he knows where we're going, so he can follow us." Abe nodded, Mia was looking confused as she watched the exchange,

"What are you guys talking about?" She pouted, I smiled grimly,

"Looks like we're going shopping Mia," she looked even more confused, "We're going to Siberia."


	26. Chapter 25

**Hey guys, I know it seems like all I ever do is thank you for your reviews, but really...THANK YOU! I'm always looking forward to what you guys have to say, keep them coming lol :-D R.J.**

Chapter 25.

It felt so surreal, being back in this hauntingly beautiful place. I wasn't going to think about it too much, but it felt good being back here in the village, it felt like coming home. Maybe it was because Dimitri's family is here. Maybe it was because they treated me like another daughter? I didn't know, and as I said I wasn't going to think about it.

I put down the book I was reading, I couldn't concentrate anyway. I didn't even remember what it was I was supposed to be reading. I was nervous, and I felt on edge. Abe and Dimitri had gone off to visit his family, it was the first time he would see them since he'd been turned. It brought back so many memories from my last trip here, when we'd pretty much had a memorial service for him. He had wanted me to go with him, but I thought it might be better for him to spend some time with them alone before I saw them again, especially with the way I left things. His grandmother scared the hell out of me, and I'm pretty sure his youngest sister still hated me for trying to set her straight, but either way I was glad to be back, and even happier that Dimitri was here.

We'd received news from one of Abe's men that Ilia knew we had left St. Petersburg, he'd started tracking us. He would be here soon, we'd made sure that he'd know how and where to find us. Lissa wasn't happy with me but was starting to understand that I was only trying to protect her, I knew what she was thinking loud and clearly, her emotions were definitely running high with everything that'd been going on. She was content at the moment though, Lissa, Sydney, Mia and Christian were sitting in the lounge room watching a movie on Abe's 70 inch flat screen. I smiled at Sydney, who was openly uncomfortable about being around both Dhampir and Moroi, sitting next to Mia like she belonged there.

Despite everything that had happened between us, I felt bad about Adrian, I was also worried about him. The temper and hostility that he'd been showing since I'd been arrested still hadn't dissipated, but now I was wondering if it was because deep down he knew that we didn't have a future together. Or it could be the stage in the grieving process he was at over the loss of his Aunt, I didn't know, but it made my stomach clench when I thought about the fury that was eating him up. He was always so laid back and happy go lucky, but since I'd been arrested he had been tense, enraged and even on the brink of violence a couple of times. I couldn't sit still any longer, determinedly I set off to find him.

After searching room after room, my stomach dropped, he wasn't here. I kept looking, thinking perhaps he'd gone out to the garden, I walked out the door to the sandstone patio, searching for a sign that he was out here. Still nothing, I was worried now. I ran upstairs and inside to find the others, standing in the door to the lounge room I paused and hesitated, thinking maybe I was being stupid and I'd missed him upstairs or something,

"Rose? What is it?" Lissa was sitting there watching me, biting her lower lip in concern,

"It's probably just me, but do you guys know where Adrian is?" Lissa and Christian looked at each other, shaking their heads in the negative,

"He's up in his room isn't he?" Mia asked, but not before a flicker of something crossed her features. I narrowed my eyes at her, studying her features,

"I was just up there, and I couldn't find him," she turned back to the TV, her features trying to show her disinterest in the topic, but she started to fidget as I kept my eyes fixed on her. "Mia, if you know something, I suggest you tell me now." Her eyes wide, she frowned, and shook her head,

"Nope, I don't know anything." Now I knew she was lying, she couldn't look me directly in the face, her cheeks were turning pink. I stormed over to where she was sitting and leant over her, placing my hands on either side of her head on the chair. Between a tense jaw and gritted teeth I managed to speak,

"I'll ask you again Mia, where the fuck is he? And if I think you're lying don't think I won't resort to violence to get the truth." She looked panicked now, her eyes wide in fear, her flushed skin turning even more pale than usual.

"He…he made me promise I wouldn't tell, he said he needed to get away from here and clear his head for a while." Her eyes lowered then,

"Where did he go Mia?" I asked as I moved away from her, my hand pushing my hair out of my face.

"He…he," she was stammering, trying not to cry, my frustration was quickly turning to anger,

"For fuck sake Mia, just spit it out." I heard Mia suck in a breath,

"He's gone into town. He said he wanted to forget, he wanted in his words 'sweet oblivion'." I stopped pacing and stared at the floor,

"He's gone to a bar hasn't he?" I didn't look at her, but I knew she nodded. Before anyone could stop me I ran to my room, grabbed my jacket found keys for a nondescript black car in the garage and pulled away from the house in a spray of gravel.

I'd warned him, I told him that if I found him drinking again I would kick his ass. I was going to knock some fucking sense into Adrian Ivashkov's thick skull.


	27. Chapter 26

**I've just been looking at photos from the fires in Russia. We've had some pretty bad fires over here in Australia, where every summer it seems to be a common place occurence, but in a country that wouldn't be prepared for such an event it must be devastating, so to anyone who has been or knows someone who is affected by these fires our thoughts and prayers are with you. xxoo R.J.**

Chapter 26.

I walked into the crowded bar, I wasn't really concerned about being recognized, but I still tried not to draw attention to myself.

I stood at the top of the stairs looking over the room, and then I saw him, he was sitting on a stool, his hands running over the body of the girl kissing him. I felt a pang of something I wasn't ready to name at the sight, pushing it away and letting my anger take over I made my way down stairs. I shouldn't have been surprised finding him with a girl, before I met him, Adrian Ivashkov was a known as something of a ladies man.

Making my way through the crowd, I had to question why I even cared that Adrian was drunk again, reminding myself that if he didn't step up and try and save Lissa's brother then Lissa herself would have to face another Strigoi. Sucking in a deep breath I walked up behind the couple, tapping Adrian's shoulder.

He ignored me, continuing to kiss the girl, and she really was a girl, she was only a little younger than me by the looks of it. Obviously Adrian had a type, he was older than the rest of us, but who was I to judge, the girl plastered all over him obviously didn't care, so why should I? Clearing my throat, I tapped his shoulder again. He still ignored me. I was at the end of my rope by this stage, I didn't stop to think about what I was doing, I just did it.

I pushed Adrian's shoulder, separating him from the girl, he fell on his ass on the floor, shock washing over his features. Standing over him I pushed my foot against his chest.

"You fucking idiot." I was trying not to scream at him, "Did you really think I wouldn't do it?" The shock was starting to disappear from his face, "Do you want me to kick your ass?" He grabbed hold of my foot and pushed it away as he stood to face me. He looked bleary eyed, but he was definitely not drunk.

"What do you want from me Rose?" The look on his face was hostile to say the least, his voice controlled, "You don't have any right to be here, and you sure as hell don't have the right to tell me what to do. You gave up that right the moment you and…" he winced, he couldn't even say Dimitri's name.

"Dimitri!" I shouted, "His name is Dimitri, Adrian, and you damn well know that. It's not my fault that you haven't given me the opportunity to explain, and I'm sorry that you found out about things the way you did, but you have been acting like a dick ever since not to mention your drinking." He stood there, looking defeated, hell he was defeated, and as much as I felt bad for my part in this, I couldn't stand seeing this pity fest. "What are you doing here? You going to get drunk and knock up the first Dhampir girl you find to get back at me?" I got up in his face then pushing my finger in his chest so forcefully it would probably leave a bruise,

"Because I can tell you now Adrian, it would only end up causing _you_ more problems." He didn't answer me,

"Rose?" I recognized that voice, my eyes widened as I saw confusion wash over Adrian's features, I almost hesitantly turned around and gasped. "Oh my God, Rose, what are you doing here?" I felt my jaw go slack as I recognized the girl that Adrian had been kissing only moments ago. I looked over my shoulder at Adrian's confused face, my fists clenched, I was trying to calm my breathing, but I pretty much couldn't help myself,

"Viktoria, why aren't you at home?" she looked annoyed, then Adrian started to chuckle to himself,

"What are you? Her mother? How do you…" I didn't even let him finish, his chuckle pushed me over the edge, without thinking I pulled my arm back and hit him, he grabbed me as he fell backwards, landing on top of him I kept hitting him, in the face, the chest, I didn't care I was so mad at him, for so many reasons. Him making out with Dimitri's little sister in a bar was just the final nail in his coffin.

I felt arms pulling me back, I fought to keep hitting him, I was then grabbed around the waist, lifted and held against a hard masculine body,

"Breathe Roza," I felt my body stiffen then relax as I realized it was Dimitri holding me. Adrian lying on the floor, his face bloodied and bruised where I had attacked him. I felt a sob escape from behind my stiff lips.

Viktoria was crouched beside Adrian, concern in her eyes. Dimitri turned me in his arms to look me in the eye,

"Are you ok?" His brow furrowed, his brown eyes turbulent. Not sure I could trust myself to speak just yet I simply nodded, holding my jaw tight. He turned back towards Viktoria, "Viktoria, Mama is at home waiting for you, I suggest you go before you are in any more trouble," she didn't look at him, she kept he gaze locked on Adrian, she shook her head. It was then I noticed that Adrian had obviously put two and two together,

"Shit," his eyes locked with mine, "Oh, shit." I then had the sick pleasure of laughing at him humorlessly, which of course made Viktoria and Dimitiri's attention turn to me as I watched Adrian's face,

"What is so funny?" still laughing almost manically, I turned to Dimitri, pointing at Adrian,

"He's just realized that he was making out with your sister." Dimitri's face turned dark, he looked from me to Viktoria, to Adrian. I'm pretty sure if looks could kill, in that moment Adrian Ivashkov would be one dead man.


	28. Chapter 27

**Hey there everyone, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a couple of days, I needed to catch up with friends and take kids to the doctors and of course go to work, oh the hectic life of a 26 year old hahaha. Anyway as usual, I would love to hear what everyone thinks, Cheers, R.J. ;-)**

Chapter 27.

"Oh no, don't you even think about it Dimitri." Viktoria had moved from Adrian's side to stand in front of her brother, her tone stern, her posture defiant. "It's bad enough that Rose has interfered in my personal life, again, but don't _you_ dare." Dimitri shifted his glare from Adrian to Viktoria. Underneath all the blood, swelling and bruises Adrian looked pale. I was biting my lip to stop the sick satisfaction I was feeling swell up into another fit of giggles. I looked around the room, and noticed that nearly everyone was staring at us. _So much for trying not to draw attention to myself._

Viktoria had helped Adrian to his feet and was helping him brush himself off, before Dimitri stood between the two of them, crowding Adrian. I pulled Viktoria out of the way in case violence ensued. "Rose has warned you several times already, and so now I'm going to Adrian." His teeth were bared, and he looked quite threatening, so much scarier than I could ever be, "You stay the hell away from my sister. You have every right to be angry at Rose and I after what happened, but don't you dare take it out on her." He was pointing at Viktoria who was looking at me questioningly. Adrian shrugged, turned and started to head out of the bar.

"I'm going to go and talk to him, at least make sure he gets home in one piece." I gave Dimitri's arm a squeeze, leant up on my toes and kissed him gently before following Adrian out into the cool night air.

"Adrian, wait." He'd stopped to light a cigarette, but when he saw me, he turned to keep walking,

"Why? So you can smash me up some more?" I cringed as the desolate words left his mouth. Gingerly I walked toward him,

"I'm not going to apologize for what just happened Adrian, you've been acting like a dick, but I do need to apologize to you." He threw his head to the sky and laughed,

"You and I both know that's not going to make any difference Rose. You told me that you'd made your choice, and I was it." His eyes were full of pain, I forced myself to hold his gaze. "We spent the night together, and I thought it meant something to you, I tried to help you after you'd been arrested," he laughed again, then became very intense, his serious eyes locked on mine, "I told you I love you. I comforted you when _he_ didn't want to see you." He sneered at me then, arms flying to emphasize his pain, "And you threw it all away when _he_ snaps his fingers, you threw me away Rose." He was yelling at me now, his face contorted as the simmering fury took control. He looked kind of scary with the bruises and dried blood covering most of his face.

"My, my, my Rose, you do get around." The words felt like ice down my spine. I saw Adrian's face freeze before spinning around to face Ilia, "I, personally don't see the fascination in you, but then again maybe I need to get to know you a little better?" I slid my hand to get my stake from my waistband, and felt a moment of panic when I realized it wasn't there. I'd been in such a hurry to leave the house I'd forgotten it. While I was cursing my own stupidity, I yelled at Adrian over my shoulder,

"Get the hell out of here Adrian, now!" Ilia laughed,

"Oh don't concern yourself too much with him my dear, it's not him I'm after. You however, you I need." I was too concerned with what Adrian was doing, before I realized what was happening, Ilia was crowding me, his hand pressed against my bruised throat. He slammed me up against the wall of the alley, his breath brushing the side of my face, sending tremors of vile fear down my spine.

I couldn't move my head, he'd lifted me, with my legs dangling off the ground. I clutched at the grip he had on my neck, trying to get him to release his hold.

He dropped me to the ground, and pushed my face against the wall. I gasped and filled my lungs with air. Through gritted teeth I snarled at him,

"What the hell do you want Ilia? If you're going to kill me, just get it over with." His breath was brushing against my neck again, before I heard him inhale, almost like he was smelling me. I cringed and uselessly struggled against his hold.

"I'm not going to kill you Rose, you're too important for that, however, you do smell irresistible," he licked down the side of my throat, I felt nauseous.

I was confused, and felt sick to my stomach, as I still continued to struggle, then I felt a sharp pain, I panicked as I realized he'd bitten me. I thought I heard myself scream before the sweet oblivion flowed through me, after that, the pain, the fear, everything disappeared, I started to feel good, even though I tried to fight it, I tried to fight him, but it was no use, then everything went black.

When I came to I was chained to the wall, in what looked like a dungeon. I pulled on the restraints, testing them, they didn't give an inch, biting into the skin of my wrists and ankles. I leant up against the cold stone wall, looked at the roof before closing my eyes. When I opened them Dimitri was pacing back and forth, hands running through his mussed hair, looking strained. Abe was leaning back against a huge oak desk, looking all the world like a Turkish mobster, it wasn't until you looked closely that you could see the tense muscles around his mouth, his movements not as smooth as usual. Christian was standing next to Lissa, holding her hand, squeezing it in reassurance. Adrian was seated in the leather club chair holding his head in his hands, Mia sitting next to him rubbing his back, it suddenly became apparent to me that those two had formed a close friendship since I'd been locked up. I smiled at myself at how unlikely a pair they were.

No one was saying anything, the tension in the room was thick enough to cut. I could feel Lissa's panic over the situation, not to mention the anger that she was still holding onto like a lifeline, over her half brother. She turned to Christian, before she could utter a word I was pulled back to the dungeon. My stomach sank as I realized I wasn't alone.

"Oh good, you're back." Ilia was standing in front of me, his huge smile seemed slightly demented. I grimaced in response. "That was strange," he squinted his crimson eyes at me, "It's like you were here, but you weren't _here_." It suddenly dawned on me that he didn't know about the bond between Lissa and I.

"You tend to drift off into la, la land when you're low on blood." I rolled my eyes at him. "Are you going to tell me what the fuck I am doing here Ilia?" this time his smile seemed to be genuine,

"Actually I am." He walked over to a basin and filled a cup with water, he waited until he was standing in front of me before finishing, "I want Dimitri Belikov's head on a stake, and you, Rose, are going to help me get it."


	29. Chapter 28

**Hey there, Sorry that I'm updating this so late, I got a little swamped today, so I've only just gotten around to it, but to make it up to you I will try and post another chapter tonight :-) thank you guys for all the support as well :-)**

Chapter 28.

I felt my stomach turn to stone, as he pushed the cup towards my dry lips. My eyes were wide and frantic as I searched his features, all so familiar, and yet so different, from Lissa's. I choked on the water as I tried to swallow and breath at the same time, causing me to have a coughing fit. He removed the cup and returned it to the sink.

"Why do you want Dimitri?" I wheezed, still trying to stop the coughs wracking my body.

He turned toward me, looking quizzical, "Tell me Rose, the last time you were in Russia, Dimitri held you captive did he not?" I watched him closely, then nodded, "I believe the night you escaped he killed some Strigoi, went on a bit of a rampage so to speak?" I felt my stomach tighten, and nodded hesitantly, my tongue felt stuck to the roof of my mouth. "Some of the Strigoi he killed that night were my allies, they were our leaders, so to speak." my stomach completely dropped, realizing I'd been responsible for some of the deaths that night, not that it mattered, if he killed Dimitri, he was going to end up killing me as well, but he'd sure as hell have a huge fight on his hands if I could get out of these shackles.

"We have been left in some turmoil since then, not unlike what the Moroi are going through back in the United States since the murder of Tatiana." He gave me a knowing look then, "In fact, if I'm not mistaken, aren't you supposed to be on trial for her murder as we speak?" I rolled my eyes at him,

"Listen if I have to stand here and listen to your monologue the least you could do is let me down." I smirked, my words dripping in sarcasm. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I did really want to be let down, but knowing that wasn't going to happen I couldn't stand the thought of him yapping on and on about me,

"So you guys have been struggling to find a new leader?" I tried to get him back on topic.

The smile he bestowed upon me made me feel like I was covered in insects, "And thus the reason behind me wanting Belikov's head on a spike," his eyes looked like they were glowing, "Can you imagine the coup I could pull if I killed the person that killed our leaders? Not only was he trying to overpower _us_ and become _our_ leader, but he's returned to his _Dhampir_ body and is a guardian once again," I didn't correct him on the whole Guardian thing, it wasn't important in the grand scheme of things.

As he was congratulating himself on the cleverness of his plan, when it suddenly occurred to me he hadn't asked, or made any comments about Lissa, which confused me since Abe seemed to be so certain that it was Lissa he would be following here. Deciding it would be best to leave that particular topic alone until he mentioned it himself I blinked before turning to watch him stalk towards me.

"You know I understand why Belikov wanted to keep you around," Completely changing the subject. I tried to pull away from him as he ran his nose along my wrist, "Every time your heart rate increases I find myself wanting to have another taste." His voice turned husky as he ran his finger across my frantically beating pulse, I was pretty certain I was going to throw up.

"You know it's rude to play with your food Ilia." He chuckled to himself as he ran his tongue across my wrist, grazing the sharp points of his teeth across the tender skin. I couldn't say anything as I tried to pull my arm out of his grip, it was no use, even if I was to get him to free my arm, the chains held me tight.

"But then again, you're no good to me when you're completely out of it, or in a daze. I need you to be coherent so when the time comes you will need to be ready." He pulled away from me, an evil smirk on his mouth. I was grinding my teeth, which was make my already tense jaw hurt even more.

Without saying anything else, he turned on his heel and walked back out the iron door, the metal grinding as he slid the lock into place, and just as suddenly as he'd appeared I was alone again.

I was completely puzzled, why did Abe think that he had been tracking Lissa? Not to mention Dimitri or I even considering this a repercussion of that dreaded night. There was something about this whole thing that wasn't sitting right. I leant against the wall, grateful that he hadn't bitten me again. I could still feel the lingering effects of his last bite, repressing a shiver I decided I should check in with Lissa and see what she was up to, if for no other reason than to pass the time. I didn't know where she was, but it was pitch black. She was outside, but there was no moon, no stars. The atmosphere was thick, she was excited, adrenalin was flowing through her veins. Mia was next to her, as they tip toed their way through a field. Their destination was a huge stone building, some of the walls were crumbling it had obviously been there a while.

I sucked in a breath as I realized that this must be where I was being held. I was trying to work out what Mia and Lissa were doing here, but Lissa's thoughts were jumping around all over the place, flicking from one thing to the next.

"I'll head around the other side of the building and see if there's another way in, you wait here." Mia whispered almost soundlessly as she crept low to the ground around a rock and disappeared out of sight. The darkness made the sounds surrounding Lissa amplify, the crickets and cicadas sounded as loud as jet engines, the restless sheep in the next field were noisy as they shied away from some imaginary threat. Lissa's heart was in her throat, as she listened for something, anything that might alert her to danger. Her thoughts became focused on me, getting me out, they were hoping that they could sneak in and sneak me out. I felt like screaming at them. Didn't they realize that Strigoi would be alerted to their presence just by smelling them, not to mention their hearing. As good as Moroi senses are, Strigoi's are amplified.

"So we meet at last little sister," Lissa and I both forgot to breath. _Oh shit_.


	30. Chapter 29

**Hi again guys, So here's my second chapter for today. I probably should've gone through and edited it a bit, but I couldn't bring myself to take anything out, anyway I'll let you decide ;-) R.J.**

Chapter 29.

Lissa stood, looking at her brother, frozen. Her heart was pounding so hard I was surprised I couldn't hear it down in my dungeon. My panic had gripped me, I was pulling at the restraints, it wasn't doing any good, I continued to struggle until the pain from my chaffed and bruised wrists and ankles seeped into my consciousness, by that stage Ilia had Lissa in the dungeon chained to the wall next to me.

She was petrified of her brother, her fear coming at me in waves. I was so angry that I could've screamed, I wasn't used to being this helpless, and once again I was kicking myself for putting Lissa in danger.

"So, I have to ask," I saw Ilia tense, "How did you know about Lissa? I mean, she never knew about you, so how'd you know about her?" He didn't look at me as he gave his answer, he simply finished snapping the shackles around Lissa's arms and legs,

"Well that's easy, our Father of course," Lissa gaped at him, looking completely perplexed, my brow furrowed,

"You mean he would visit you?" Lissa all but whispered, Ilia gave her a scary looking grin, and shook his head,

"No." Obviously he wasn't going to elaborate, changing the subject, well sort of, he turned back to face Lissa. He was studying her intently,

"I can't get over the likeness, it's uncanny…" he drifted off, almost sounding reverent. I watched his face, and couldn't stop myself from flinching at the memory of that same look. Dimitri had worn an almost identical expression when he was trying to coax me into turning. Lissa's panicked eyes searched for and found mine, she was silently communicating with me through our bond, it was something along the lines of _Oh. My. God. Oh my. God. Oh my God! _

"I hate to have to restrain you like this my dear sister, but it is for your own good. I fear you would try to leave me if I were to release you, and we have so much that we need to catch up on." His gaze hadn't wavered, it was locked in on Lissa, "I'm afraid I am going to have to leave you for a little while, but we shall talk some more when I return." He turned toward me, "You two play nice now won't you." He smirked and stalked back out the door, sliding the lock back into place. Relieved I released the breath I'd been holding,

"What the hell were you and Mia doing here?" I struggled to stop myself from screaming at her, I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from saying anything else, I knew she was on the verge of tears. I sighed,

"We came to find you." She started to sob, "Mia and I were up on the rooftop when we saw him down on the street below. Mia had already followed him once before without getting caught, so we figured we'd be alright doing it again, and if he happened to lead us to you then mores the better." She shrugged as much as she could with the chains restraining her. "When we got here, we started to snoop around and then…" she didn't need to finish, I knew what happened.

"Liss, you have to calm down, ok? I can't concentrate," Something was niggling at the back of my brain, it was slowly worming it's way forward into a clear thought, calmly I looked at Lissa my jaw still tense, "Don't freak out or anything Liss, but you being here wasn't an accident." Her watery gaze froze,

"What do you mean not an accident?" Still trying to push my frustration away, I sucked in a huge breath, and slowly released it,

"I mean, I'm pretty certain that he knew you were on the roof, I think he knew Mia had followed him back in St. Petersburg, and I think he expected the two of you to follow him to try and find me." I closed my eyes cursing myself for the second time in as many days for my stupidity, "What I'm trying to say is that Dimitri isn't the only person he was using me as bait for, he knew you would come looking for me." I couldn't believe that I'd thought Abe was wrong, shaking my head in disgust, I watched Lissa.

"He wants you to join him." The look on Lissa's face was almost comical, eyes bugging out, mouth hanging open, I couldn't help but grimace, "He wants you to turn like him. He was telling me before about how everything's been 'in turmoil' since Dimitri and I killed his higher ups, and after St. Petersburg, we pretty much finished off his coven. I think he wants you to turn so he isn't alone any more." She shook her head,

"Well, you know as well as I do, I'm not going to do it willingly." I winced at the thought,

"If I have my way it won't be an issue," out of the corner of my eye I saw Lissa's face flood with anguish before turning neutral.

"What was that?" She looked at me innocently, like she wasn't even aware that she'd given anything away.

"What?"

"The anguish, you felt anguish when I said that it wouldn't be an issue, which means that there is something that is an issue. Spill." She'd seemed to have composed herself, at least the tears had stopped falling,

"You can't kill him Rose." I nodded my head,

"I know, but I'll tell you that if it comes down to you or him, I will end him, I don't care if he is your brother or not, I'm not going to let anything happen to you Lissa." She gave me a small grin,

"He's also the key to proving your innocence Rose, so promise me you will try not to kill him." I smiled self deprecatingly, attempted to shrug,

"Fine, I'll try."

It was hard to tell how long we'd been chained up for, I had a sense of Déjà vu. I couldn't believe that it was just under a week since I had last been locked in a cell, although, I definitely preferred the one at court. It may have been small, but at least I wasn't chained up like some animal.

There was someone at the door, I felt dread wash over my body at the thought of Ilia coming back for Lissa. I could feel my heart beating as fast as a hummingbird's wings, fluttering away in my chest, and I knew Lissa could hear it, which meant that whoever was on the other side of that door was able to pick up on my fear. Both Lissa and I fixed our gazes on the door as it was slowly pushed open. We both then exhaled in relief, Lissa also letting out a bit of an excited squeal as Christian and Abe walked toward us, Abe carrying a pair of bolt cutters. Without uttering so much as a word, he cut Lissa free, she flung herself at Christian, who wrapped her in his arms, kissing her sweetly before running his hands over her to make sure she was alright.

Abe was cutting me free from my restraints, and before I knew it we were making our way out of the dungeon and into the darkness of the night.

Something made me stop, the others, realizing I wasn't with them turned, Abe walked toward me. Something was bothering me, it wasn't Lissa, she was relieved to be free and back with Christian. Something wasn't right, I raised my disconcerted gaze to Abe, his eyes wide,

"Come on Rose, we have to go now." I shook my head trying to clear the uneasy feeling, I still didn't move, out of the corner of my eye I caught Christian holding Lissa again.

"Something isn't right." My brow was furrowed and I could feel a headache starting to throb through my temples. Closing my eyes, I continued to try and put my finger on what the problem was.

"Where's Dimitri?" I asked puzzled as to why he wasn't with them. Looking perturbed, Abe answered,

"Back at the house, we thought given the circumstances it would be better to keep him away from Ilia." My head swung toward him, eyes wide, I gasped.

"Shit." He looked taken aback by my reaction,

"What Rose?" Christian asked,

My legs felt like they were going to collapse, before they had the opportunity I started to run, not stopping until I found the car. As the others followed and got in I'd already turned the key in the ignition, while Lissa slammed the door closed behind her I'd already taken off.

"Rose, what's going on? Why are we all of a sudden in such a hurry?" I looked in the rearview mirror at Lissa,

"He's got you, which leaves Dimitri." She looked at me confused, I felt Abe and Christian's confused eyes on me too, "Ilia, he thinks he has Lissa and me locked up, which would leave Dimitri as the only Guardian vulnerable." Looking even more confused as I drove like demented demons were on our tails, I realized I had to elaborate for the other passangers in the car. "What I'm trying to tell you is that he's gone after Dimitri to kill him, and he won't care if Adrian, Mia or Sydney get in his way." Looking in the mirror again, I could tell the second that the penny had dropped. We had to get back to the hotel before anyone was killed or worse, turned.

**Just a quick note, I revised this chapter, all because I just realised I stuffed up...SORRY :-s Dimitri is supposed to be back at the house NOT the hotel.**


	31. Chapter 30

**Hey everyone, I hope you're all well. Once more I would like to say THANK YOU for your support and awesome reviews...words cannot express how I feel everytime I read your kind and lovely words. :-D So with that said, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it...Cheers, R.J. xxoo**

Chapter 30.

Pulling up out the front of the house, I jumped out of the car, not bothering to turn it off. I heard it lurch forward and stall as I ran toward the front door. Fear coursed through me, turning my veins to ice.

I couldn't hear any screams, there was no sound of violence at all. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Stealthily I crept toward the door, my back against the wall, I tested the knob, it was unlocked. As quietly as I could I opened the door, pushing it open, I leant around the door frame. I couldn't see anyone, but something had obviously gone on, dread clutched at my stomach as I took in the broken vase and table, the shattered mirror, shards of glass covering the marble floor. Then my heart stopped, in between all the glass was a dark, red puddle. I couldn't breath, closing my eyes, I pulled myself together and crept toward the lounge room, as I got closer I could hear the TV, it sounded like some movie was playing. I stood in the doorway to the lounge room, much like I had when I realized that Adrian was missing. My breath caught in my throat at the sight in front of me.

The knick knacks that had been on shelves, the fireplace, and the end tables were strewn across the floor. The paintings that had been hanging on the wall were now ripped and lying in taters across the floor, their broken golden frames lying in pieces around them. The glass from the French doors that led to the back patio were boarded over, glass lying jaggedly everywhere. There were dints in the plaster of the walls, one of the two recliners that flanked the couch were tipped over and looked as though it had been thrown across the room. Mia and Sydney sat on the couch in the middle of all the destruction, they were watching a documentary about The Great Barrier Reef on TV, when I walked into the room and made my way toward them, I didn't know if they were actually seeing the pictures on the screen. They both sat their staring. A shiver of apprehension crept up my spine.

"Ah, guys, what happened?" They both jumped before spinning around. Mia jumping up into a defensive stance, visibly relaxing when she realized it was me.

Sydney leapt over the back of the lounge toward me, "Oh thank the Gods," she was clutching at me, I almost pulled back, stunned at her response, but her reaction made me more anxious. Looking over her shoulder I watched Mia, she was still tense.

I felt Christian, Lissa and Abe walk through the door dazedly. They were looking at the destruction, and like me Lissa was freaking about the blood that was out in the entrance way.

I passed Sydney onto Lissa, who was a lot better at the whole comfort thing than me. I walked hesitantly toward Mia, "Mia. I need you to tell me what happened, and then I need you to tell me where Adrian and Dimitri are." I struggled to keep the fear and panic out of my voice, I hoped it sounded calm and authoritarian. Mia sucked in a deep breath, gulped, like she was swallowing back the tears that were swimming in her eyes.

"He was here, he snuck in, he somehow got through the wards." I knew if we went outside and searched we'd find a stake, someone had helped him. Her voice shaky Mia continued, "Adrian, Sydney and me were in here watching TV, we'd left Dimitri alone because…well you weren't here." I nodded as she gulped again, I wanted to scream at her. Tell her to hurry the fuck up and get to what I wanted to know, biting my lip I let her be, "He just appeared out of nowhere, one minute we were watching the TV, the next we were staring into his red eyes," she shuddered, "He grabbed Adrian and pinned him against the wall, I…I tried to help, but then he turned on me, he…he was going to bite me. He told me he was going to drain me if I didn't tell him where Dimitri was, before I could s…say anything, Dimitri was in the door, he'd heard the bang when Adrian had been smashed against the wall." My heart was in my throat, it was then that I realized my panic had overshadowed the nausea I was feeling, I felt my brows crease,

"He's still here?" Even though I'd asked it as a question, there was no doubt I knew the answer. Biting her lip, tears fell down Mia's pale lips as she started to sob. I turned toward Sydney, eyes wide from reliving what had only just happened. "Where are Dimitri and Adrian?" I all but screamed.

There was movement above us, listening I prepared myself to take on Ilia, crouched low to the ground I crept to the base of the stairs, awaiting the bastard that had come for the man I love. Footsteps crept down the stairs, I almost collapsed when I saw that it wasn't the tall blonde, but Adrian. "What the hell?" I asked in confusion, he yelped and jumped as I caught him off guard. Despite everything that had gone on between Adrian and I over the last week, I was relieved to see that he was ok. Apprehension was still licking it's way down my spine over Dimitri's absence.

"How the hell did you get back here?" He looked confused, then his features changed, so quickly to his normal placid self, I didn't know if I'd imagined the anger and confusion his eyes had radiated out at me.

"Abe and Christian." I stated blandly, I looked up the stairs, "Where is Dimitri?" I couldn't believe it but Adrian actually smiled,

"He's up stairs," Now I was the one who was confused, obviously I wore a look of disbelief "You can go up and have a look for yourself if you want." I looked hesitantly at the stair case once again, then nodded,

"I think I might just do that." I pushed past him as I climbed,

"Oh, and just for safety's sake, knock before entering the room." I looked at him over my shoulder, like he'd just sprouted another head, shaking my head at his cryptic request.

Dread was still clutching at my insides as I made my way down the hall, looking into the rooms as I went, trying to find him, my breathing was labored as I fought back the panic trying to take me over.

I realized that all the doors were open bar one, at the end of the hall it was closed, the gold door knob shining in the muted light, determinedly I all but ran to it as fast as I could, which seemed like an eternity. I knocked on the white door, before waiting for a response I was turning the knob and slipping into the semi-darkness of the room. I felt blind momentarily like when you've been staring at a light and then the lights go out. The room slowly came into focus, as I was pinned against the wall. I gasped, my eyes going wide, before I inhaled the familiar scent that was all Dimitri.

I released a ragged breath as I sagged into his arms, wearing a dopey smile, "I was so worried," I whispered, searching his eyes. He didn't say anything, searching my face with a fierce intensity, before groaning and lowering his mouth to mine. His kiss was fierce and all consuming, possessive. His hands running over me as his mouth branded me as his. I raised my hands to his hair, releasing it from the leather band that he always used to keep it held back. Luxuriating in the feeling I twisted my hands, running my fingers through the silken strands. His hands were on my butt, pulling me closer to him, then he lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his hips, moaning my appreciation at being so close to him. His hands had lifted the hem of my shirt, as he ran his hands over my lower back. I felt giddy at how happy I was in that moment, how right it felt to be held, kissed by this man.

Pulling back slightly I looked deep into his dark brown eyes, our breathing fast and ragged, he lent his forehead against mine, closing his eyes.

"I wanted to kill him." His voice was low, but the menace and violence was evident, "When he told me about tasting you, I wanted to rip his heart out with my bare hands." I felt his body tense, running my hands down his back, I kissed the tip of his nose, I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn't find any words that wouldn't make his anger worse, instead I kissed him again, before I forced myself to pull away. He lowered my feet to the ground, before he reluctantly released me. For a moment I felt bereft at the absence of his body near mine, but it was as he moved away from me I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Blinking, I turned my head. Then found myself blinking and shaking my head again, not seeming to believe what I was seeing.

"What…how?" I was at a loss for words, which had to have been a first. Confusion, a feeling I was fast becoming acquainted with settled over me once more, before I turned toward Dimitri, not needing to ask the question out loud, I could feel it written over my face. He shrugged,

"Ah…yeah" he shrugged again, looking surprisingly befuddled himself.

"Well…" I was still stunned, Dimitri smiled slightly proud of himself, I returned his smile as we both turned toward Ilia.


	32. Chapter 31

**Hi again, I literally just finished this, and thought I'd update it before I go to bed, I had finished the last chapter and LOVE the playlist I'm listening to on my iPod at the moment, and couldn't stop typing...I hope you enjoy :-D R.J.**

Chapter 31.

He was unconscious, slumped forward, remnants of a gash in his forehead puckered across his brow. The thin silver chain that held him in place seemed ridiculous, so small and dainty in comparison to the strength and fearsome power of a Strigoi.

A single laugh escaped from between my lips, my eyebrows were raised toward my hairline still, I honestly didn't know if they were going to move anytime soon. Smiling once again I spoke, "So…" I laughed again, "I'm impressed," seeing the smile on Dimitri's face was like standing in front of a hot fire after being out in the snow only wearing under ware. It warmed me all over. I savored it only just realizing how I missed seeing the smile on his lips.

"Do we have a plan?" Our eyes caught and meshed, it was like their was a current of electricity running between us, it amplified our usual awareness of each other. Biting my lip I turned back toward Ilia. Clearing his throat Dimitri answered my question,

"We were kind of waiting for you guys to get back, Adrian didn't want to try anything until he spoke to Lissa," I nodded then looked at the door behind me,

"I suppose we should discuss this, I mean, I really want to hear how you did this." I said pointing at the still unconscious Strigoi. "At least I know where the blood came from." I grimaced. "Are you going to come?" I hesitated, "Or does someone need to stay here with him?" The look he gave me warmed me all over,

"As much as I'd like to join you Roza, I think it would be better for everyone if someone stayed with him, just in case he wakes up. The silver should hold him, but in case it doesn't…" he drifted off as he stalked towards me, his eyes full of purpose,

"God, Roza, I want nothing more than to take you in my arms and hold you." He sounded like he was in agony, I shivered at the intensity of the passion in his eyes as they seemed to devour me. I found it amazing how we could go from scheming to passion in the blink of an eye.

"I want that too," my voice sounded so husky, I could feel my cheeks burning, "But before I do something stupid like jump you while Ilia is tied up a few feet away I think I should go and see the others." Rising on my toes I leant up and brushed a kiss across his lips, forcing myself to pull away and walk out the door. Closing the door, I lent back on it, closing my eyes and reliving the intensity of my love for him. Smiling to myself, I pushed away from the door, opening my eyes to see Adrian in front of me, pain etched in the tense muscles of his face, hands clenched beside him.

The bruises and cuts I'd inflicted on him, made his features look harsh, the pain made him look like a tormented soul.

Not knowing what to say I walked past him, he grabbed my wrist and spun me toward him.

"It should be me putting that smile on your lips," he sounded like he had the misery of the world on his shoulders, "I should be the one making you happy Rose." He sounded so determined that it was true. My arm tingled where he held it. It always tingled when he touched me, but it wasn't the same as with Dimitri. It wasn't combustible and all consuming, it was warm and comfortable.

I couldn't stand to see him like this, I didn't want to hurt him, I'd never meant to hurt him, but it seemed to be the best thing to snap him out of his depression. The anger and violence were more tolerable than his current morose state.

Pulling my wrist out of his grasp, I pushed him away from me,

"And yet I chose Dimitri," my insides twisted as he winced at my harsh words, I'd resigned myself to what I had to do. I needed to push him away, as much as it sucked that I was going to lose him as a friend, it would be better for him. "Understand this Adrian, I don't want you to touch me, ever again. I don't want you period, I have moved on. I suggest you do the same." I was crying inside as I could see in my minds eye, my hand ripping his heart from his chest. I should never have let things go this far with him in the first place, but I was weak. I couldn't look him in the eye, so I averted my gaze to the floor, and continued down the stairs searching for the others, as a piece of my heart died.

Swallowing back the pain, I walked into the kitchen. Sydney was nursing a cup of coffee, a far away look on her face, Mia, Christian, Lissa and Abe were all talking animatedly, they were sitting around a polished pine table. I was glad to see that Mia had recovered from the ordeal. I walked over to Sydney, not sure what to say I stopped in front of her, after a minute of silence I attempted to speak to her,

"I know _we_ scare you Sydney, but you need to understand that the Strigoi are the ones you should _really_ be afraid of." She raised her eyes to mine,

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" her voice was quiet, angry, "Is that meant to justify the killing? The abuse? The darkness?" I shook my head, she went back to staring off into space.

The excitement Lissa was feeling washed over me, I made my way over to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting, I looked at the faces of the others. I felt the smile wash over my face once again.

"I'm going to do it." Not understanding I looked at Lissa,

"You're going to do what?" She looked like she was about to burst with excitement, Christian sitting beside her was holding her hand, playing with her fingers. I felt the smile on my face freeze.

"I'm going to change Ilia back. I want to be the one that does it, I mean it makes sense, I've done it before with Dimitri, and we're not sure that Adrian can do it, his healing powers aren't as strong as mine." I felt it slip away completely, turning into a frown,

"No." Her smile changed just as quickly as I shook my head, pushing away from the table to pace violently across the kitchen, "Not fucking way are you doing this." I was yelling now.

Pouting, Lissa crossed her arms defiantly, "Why the hell not? There's no reason you can give Rose." Oh but there were plenty, instead of voicing them I continued to shake my head as I paced back and forth, my arms slashing the air.

"It's not going to happen, Lissa, I agreed to us finding Ilia, on the condition that it wasn't you that was to be put in danger again." I sucked in a breath, "Time and time again I have put you in harms way, but not this time." She started to look angry now, she pushed away from the table, Christian releasing her hand, she stalked towards me,

"Yeah Rose, you have put me in danger, but nine times out of ten the reason we've been in danger is because of me." I felt as though she had slapped me, "First with the car accident, then when I made you take me away from school, not to mention Victor and the rest." She was pushing her finger in my chest to emphasize each item. "And besides, with the number of times you've saved me, protected me, rescued me, I think it's about time I did something for you. By turning Ilia back, we're one step closer to freeing you." Her eyes were imploring me to agree with her, stunned at her outburst I shook my head, my conscience wouldn't allow me to let her go through with it. "Bottom line Rose. I'm doing this whether you agree to it or not." She turned and walked out of the room. Stunned, mouth hanging open, I watched her leave.


	33. Chapter 32

**Hi guys :-)I'm actually a little nervous about this chapter... some of you had a guess at what you thought was going to happen, I have to say you were close, but not quite right...but I hope you'll keep reading anyway. Again any comments are appreciated :-D Cheers, R.J.**

Chapter 32.

Christian jumped up from the table and followed her out the door. Silence filled the room. I felt like I'd gone twenty rounds in a ring and lost, pulling out a chair I collapsed into it. There was an internal struggle going on inside of me, it felt like my fear and anger were fighting for control with Lissa's darker emotions. I felt the black cloud creeping up on me again. I pushed away from the table, needing to be by myself.

"Rose," I stopped, not wanting to look at my father, "She isn't in any danger, there's no reason that she can't do this." I clenched my fists, tensed my jaw.

"That may be the case, but she shouldn't have to go through this again." I pushed the door outside open, letting the cool evening air wash over me.

I walked through the gardens, looking to the sky I watched the stars, the moon. Clearing my mind, pushing away the nausea from having Ilia in the house, blocking out Lissa's thoughts and feelings, ignoring the throbbing of my head knowing there were spirits trying to reach out to me. Inhaling deeply, I released my breath and imagined all the anger flowing out with it, it seemed to help a little, I didn't feel like I was going to snap anymore. I thought I heard a noise, it sounded like a _thud, thud, thud._ Screwing my face up in concentration as I tried to picture what would make that noise I suddenly felt shock then fear, _No, no, no. God no._ That was Lissa. I flashed to her standing in the doorway to the room that held Ilia, and felt my body turn to ice, then burn like fire. I sprinted back through the house, up the stairs toward the room. The darkness was back, and it was in control turning everything red. I savored the feeling of it, the violence that it made me feel. I could hear Lissa yelling hysterically,

"Get off him! What are you doing?" Walking through the door I pushed her out of the way,

"Move!" I heard myself growl, as I launched myself at Adrian, smashing him in the side of the head. He had a screaming Dimitri pinned to the bed, stake in hand. Shock washed over Adrian's face, I didn't give him time to react, I swung at him, throwing his head back, I was pushing him up to the wall, swinging, this time Dimitri wasn't there to pull me off him. Adrenalin was fuelling the violence that was freely flowing through my veins. In the distance I could hear Lissa screaming, then someone else was yelling at me. All I was focused on was the sound of my fist pummeling into Adrian's skull, _thud, thud, thud._ Then just like before, someone had lifted me, pulled me off him. I was kicking and screaming trying to get back to Adrian. I wanted to throttle him, I wanted to feel the life flow out of him. I felt a hand on my arm, then everything seemed to come into focus, I lost the red haze that had taken over me. I couldn't stop shaking as I felt the darkness leave. I felt empty, drained.

I was breathing raggedly, finally as I seemed to have control over myself I lifted my head, and released a sob. Adrian was collapsed against the wall, his face swollen, covered in cuts, his nose smashed, he was unrecognizable. My eyes filling with tears I averted my eyes, only to see Dimitri, lying on the bed groaning. I started to cry, not fully understanding what had happened, but seeing the carnage. I could hear someone laughing as I collapsed at Abe's feet, turning my head again I saw a now conscious Ilia, smiling, reveling in the scene that had taken place before him.

Grinding my teeth, "Someone shut him up before I do." I don't know what they did, but he yelped and then was quiet once again.

I managed to pull myself over to the bed, Christian was already there, he'd pulled Dimitri's bloody shirt over his head and was using it to staunch the flow of blood. Still sobbing I looked into Dimitri's pain filled eyes. Lissa was at my side, her arm around my shoulder, she was crying. Letting go of me, she reached out for Dimitri, holding onto his hand. I could feel her calling on Spirit to heal him, she was already drained from helping me. Mia came and stood beside us,

"What about Adrian?" She looked freaked, I cringed hoping that Sydney wasn't close by.

I looked again at Adrian, I felt numb, I could see his chest slowly rising and falling, so I knew that he was at least still alive. Abe was crouched down beside him, his eyes met mine as he gave a sad grin,

"He'll survive, although with the pain he's going to be in, I don't know if he'll want to." I looked away biting my lip, the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I ran my tongue along my lip, feeling the small cut I'd inflicted on myself with my teeth.

My stomach started to roll and lurch, pushing myself to my feet I ran from the room, into the bathroom, slamming the door closed behind me. I didn't want anyone to see me lose the contents of my stomach. After what felt like an age the retching seemed to stop. There was a soft knock on the door, before it opened and someone entered. I was on the floor, my head resting on the edge of the toilet. Burying my face in the crook of my arm I groaned, "Go away, please." There was no response, only footsteps moving closer. I felt a hand on my shoulder,

"I'm not going to leave you Roza," as I gasped I lifted my head, my body filling with relief as I stared into Dimitri's concerned gaze. Another sob wracked my body, then I groaned, lowering himself to the ground he pulled me into his arms, his heart was racing against my ear as I inhaled his scent.

"Are you in pain? Tell me what I can do my love." My heart gave a flutter, _he called me his love_ I grimaced and looked at him,

"I'm not in pain, I just can't stand you seeing me looking like this." He looked confused, I elaborated, "Weak, red eyed, blotchy, and probably smelling of vomit." I winced again, running a hand through my matted hair. It was only then that the pain from my hands set in. I gasped in pain.

Looking at the cut, bruised and misshapen knuckles I winced, still feeling shocked at the violence that had taken over me. Dimitri was standing, he then lifted me and carried me to the vanity, sitting me down. As I cleaned my teeth, rinsing with mouthwash twice, he turned the taps in the sink on, filling it with warm water, grabbing a washer from the towel rack. He then proceeded to wash my mangled hands. When he had finished he gently pressed kisses to them, closing my eyes I savored the moment. I wasn't ready to talk about what had happened, I wanted to forget what I'd done, what Adrian had tried to do. I leant forward and pressed a kiss to Dimitri's mouth, opening my eyes I looked deeply into his, seeing his desire burning back at me. Closing my eyes and inhaling in, and then out, "Dimitri, take me to bed." I could hear the hiss of his breath. His hand lifted my chin so he could look into my eyes once more. "I need you to love me." He pulled back looking at me intently,

"Are you sure, I don't…" I pressed another kiss to his lips cutting him off,

"Please Dimitri. I want you," there was no hesitancy in my voice. He smiled sweetly at me as he lifted me and carried me to our room.

Closing the door behind us he continued over to the huge bed, lowering me gently, kissing me until I forgot about anything but him and the pleasure only he could bring.


	34. Author's Note 2

**Author's Note.**

**Hi guys, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a couple of days but I have the flu and am finding it really hard to concentrate… I actually had to ask my husband how to spell "doesn't" the other day :-s So that being said I've decided rather than attempt to write and not be happy with the result I'll wait until I'm feeling a bit better. I'm hoping by Friday afternoon (AEST) I will have posted something…Thanks again guys :-D**

**R.J.**


	35. Chapter 33

**Heya, there's a couple of things I need to explain/address;**

**There was going to be a love scene at the start of this chapter, but when I was going through and reading the guidelines for the ratings and what have you, I decided that the least complicated thing I could do would be to drop it, so for those of you who were hoping that's where we were going, I'm sorry, and you'll have to use your own imagination about what took place at the end of the last chapter. ;-)**

**The other thing I wanted to do was thank everyone for their understanding and well wishes over the last couple of days. It has been really frustrating not being able to write, and although I'm still not 100% I'm definitley on the mend :-D and your support has helped me through, so without further ado, here is the next chapter, let me know what you think.**

**R.J.**

Chapter 33.

"It'll be alright you know," I cringed at how positive Dimitri sounded, my only reply was a sigh and a grimace as I pushed forward and opened the door leading to the kitchen, dragging Dimitri by the hand. I settled a determined look on my face, inside dreading what I would find.

I hadn't seen, spoken or heard from anyone since I'd run out of the room last night. I'd managed to block Lissa, and I'd also been a little distracted thanks to Dimitri. I could feel the grin on my lips as I thought about being with him again. I felt him squeeze my hand and pull me back into his hard chest,

"I know what you're thinking Roza, but you need to focus right now. And so do I." the last was muttered begrudgingly, half turning toward him I pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, before releasing his hand,

"You're right it'll keep," turning my thoughts back to the mess that I'd left last night I continued into the room, holding my breath.

Abe, Lissa and Christian were sitting around the pine table talking animatedly until they saw me, then the conversation stopped dead, 3 pairs of eyes all turning to me, trepidation evident in their depths.

"I…I" biting my lip I inhaled, "I really don't know what to say. I mean, I'm not apologizing to him," Christian's eyes widened at the vehemence in my voice, "What?" I directed at him, "You don't seriously think he didn't deserve what he got? He tried to _kill_ Dimitri!" No one said anything, Lissa and Abe lowered their gaze to look at the pattern of wood on the top of the table,

"No one blames you for what happened Rose," Lissa started still looking at the table top, Christian scoffed, earning himself a glare from Lissa, "I know you would've kicked his ass anyway, but the way you…" she flinched at the memory, I could taste blood, again as I bit the inside of my cheek, "It was scary Rose," finally she was looking at me again, "You lost control, like, complete control. It was like you wanted to kill him." I couldn't look at her then, praying that she wouldn't see the truth in my eyes, that I had wanted him to die. Now though? How would I have felt if I had killed him? I could feel her eyes boring into me as the silence was left a minute too long, gritting my jaw I raised my eyes to look at Abe,

"Where is he?" releasing a breath Abe looked at Lissa, Dimitri and then finally back to me,

"Mia and Sydney have taken him back to Court. It's better if he isn't around with everything that's going on." I looked at him incredulously,

"You sent him back? He knows where we are, he knows what we're planning on doing, not to mention he's supposed to be changing Ilia back, and you've sent him home for being a naughty boy?" I was struggling to reign in the volume of my voice, closing my eyes I counted to ten,

"Do you really think that after everything we've been through I would blow it all?" I averted my eyes to the floor before I muttered,

"No, probably not."

"Of course I wouldn't. It won't matter if Adrian tells them anything, we won't be here soon enough, Ilia," he grimaced, almost like he was bracing himself for something, just as I felt Lissa's apprehension, turning toward her brows drawn together it dawned on me,

"You didn't?" I looked between the three of them, Christian looking anywhere but at me, Abe was looking between Lissa and me in surprise, as Lissa stood and walked towards me.

"I told you that I would, he's _my_ brother, it was my right to." I'd never seen her look so adamant, or so strong. Not only was I trying to block her out of my head last night, but she'd blocked me, my features turned dark as I realized the danger she had put herself in,

"You blocked me out." I was still shocked over that, "Do you know how dangerous that is?" Shaking her head she walked toward me once again,

"There was no danger Rose. He was tied to a chair with silver." She sounded as though she'd used this argument several time, my eyes diverting for a second to Christian who still wouldn't look at us, "And besides any of that, nothing bad happened, we're all here, we're all non-Strigoi, and we're one step closer to clearing your name." I dropped my head into my hand as I rubbed my eyes in frustration.

Something was bothering me, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was something to do with the way Christian was being, looking around Lissa I tried to catch his gaze,

"So what's happened then?" I looked back at Lissa puzzled, "You said nothing bad happened, not that everything was fine, so what happened Lissa?" I looked at Abe, who lowered his eyes to the table once again, "Abe?" The apprehension that Lissa was feeling was still coming off her in waves, I was close to grabbing her and shaking the answer out of her when I heard a thumping noise coming from up stairs, still puzzled I looked at the three of them before turning, walking past Dimitri, out of the room and toward the stairs.

I'd just reached the bottom step, hand on the banister when I heard Lissa speak to me quietly,

"It worked Rose," I froze, hesitantly turning to look at her, afraid of what I might find,

"Lissa, what's going on?" Looking up the stairs as the noise came again, and what sounded like a frustrated growl, my eyes shifting back to Lissa before sprinting up to the room that held Ilia. Swinging open the door my eyes searching the dark room I saw him, and froze. He was chained to the floor, cuffs around his wrists and ankles, he was covered in scratches, the skin completely gouged in places, chunks of hair littered the floor, and under his nails as he skittered across the floor into the corner whimpering. Then it was like he realized I wasn't a threat and tried to launch himself at me, teeth bared, growling and spitting as he pulled at his restraints.

The nauseous feeling that came over me had nothing to do with spirits, Strigoi or the undead of any kind, it was over the tormented and demented creature in front of me.

There were footsteps behind me, not turning, or moving my eyes focused on Ilia,

"What happened to him?" I asked completely dazed,

Lissa walked up to the door, and moved around me, Ilia seemed to calm when he saw Lissa, he stopped pulling at the restraints and dropped to the floor arms around his legs rocking, she walked over to him, whispering words to him before she finally spoke aloud again,

"We don't know, we did everything right as far as we know. We were talking about it when you came downstairs. The only difference between him and Dimitri was that Ilia chose to become Strigoi, Dimitri didn't, so the way I see it Dimitri's body welcomed his soul back, Ilia's is trying to reject it." She ran her hand across Ilia's hunched shoulders and looked down at him adoringly.

Abe walked up behind me, "I've spoke to Oksana and Mark, and albeit hesitantly, they're going to try…" he hesitated, almost like he was looking for the appropriate words, "and help him." I nodded, trying to ignore the million and one things running through my head. Pulling myself together and concentrating once more I turned fully to Abe,

"What do we need to do next? I mean as far as finding out who killed Tatiana?" His eyes never moved from Ilia,

"I don't know, but I have a few ideas, I just need to look into them first." There was something I'd also been thinking about the last couple of days,

"I have an idea, I'm not sure how we'd implement it, but I think I know who it was, that killed Tatiana, and didn't want Lissa able to take her place on the council," I saw Abe's head jerk back in surprise,

"I said I _think_ I know, but to be sure, we need to flush the guilty party out." Abe smiled at the thought, more plotting going on behind Zmey's eyes.

"We're going back to court?" I nodded, resigned but determinedly,

"We have to. It's the only way." We'd done well not being caught or recognized for this long,

"You know they'll arrest you on site, or worse." Clenching my jaw at the though of being back in that cell, I nodded again,

"Looks like we've got some planning to do." I sighed, not returning the smile that had worked it's way onto Zmey's face,

"Yep, looks like it."


	36. Chapter 33 REVISED!

**Hey guys, So I wanted to say THANK YOU! There were a couple of you that reviewed about the lack of intimacy, and converstaion between Rose and Dimitri, after they were together, so I've redone this chapter by adding their conversation before heading downstairs. When I first wrote this chapter I was trying to work out how to imply that they'd been together without actually going into details, and after reading the reviews and hitting myself upside the head (joking) I realised I could've at least put their cuddle session in...I hope you enjoy the revised version of this chapter...and please keep the comments etc coming, because sometimes I need all the help I can get :-D R.J.**

Chapter 33.

Stretching languorously I felt tingles as my body brush up against the satin covered muscles of Dimitri's well defined body. Feeling like the cat that got the cream I couldn't stop the satisfied smile from washing over my well kissed lips, I could still taste him, feel the burn left from where he'd nibbled on my lower lip, not to mention other places. _God how I love this man_.

"Roza, I know you think I'm some kind of God, but if you keep that up I'm not sure how God like I'll be." the smirk on his face made it hard for me to catch my breath, feeling the blush creeping up my neck I hid my face in the crook of his arm as I let out a chuckle,

"You make me sound like I'm some wanton woman," I lifted my head to look him, falling into the chocolate brown depths of his eyes,

"Well you did proposition me," he said running his hand down the curve of my spine making my skin break out in goosebumps, he laughed when he saw the mock look of shock on my face, "You corrupted me, how could I possibly say no?" Breaking into a fit of giggles I couldn't help myself, I ran my hands over the muscles of his chest and shoulders, he suddenly turned very somber. "You know there is so much that I need to thank you for." I pressed a kiss to his chest where Lissa and now Adrian had staked him, silently remembering when I had also inflicted pain back in Russia, overcome with so many emotions and pain of my own I kept my focus on his chest, not wanting to give away the agony the memories caused me.

"I'm the one that is thankful." Sucking in a breath I faced him, "The thought of living the rest of my life knowing you weren't able to do the same thing," I shuddered, "I'm thankful that there was actually something we could do, a way to save you, and now we're able to save Ilia for Lissa." Without realizing it I'd managed to bring back everything that had happened in the previous couple of days, mentioning Ilia brought me back to reality.

"Roza, no matter what happens, I need you to know that I love you, that I will always love you." My heart was beating so fast I was finding it hard to breath again, my chest was so full, with love for this gracious, caring and beautiful man, he was right, I would always think of him as a God. Sitting up I moved over him, kissing his chest again, then making my way up his neck to finally capture his lips before pulling away to admire his strong face,

"I love you too, even when my heart stops beating, I will still love you." I felt his hand wrap around my neck as he pulled me down to share another kiss.

"I hate to cut this short, but I think we should probably go and deal with what happened last night." He said with a wry grin, as always the voice of reason. I nodded solemnly in response before sighing,

"I suppose you're right." He kissed me one more time before we both got out of bed, showered, dressed and headed downstairs.

"It'll be alright you know," I cringed at how positive Dimitri sounded, my only reply was a sigh and a grimace as I pushed forward and opened the door leading to the kitchen, dragging Dimitri by the hand. I settled a determined look on my face, inside dreading what I would find.

I hadn't seen, spoken or heard from anyone since I'd run out of the room last night. I'd managed to block Lissa, and I'd also been a little distracted thanks to Dimitri. I could feel the grin on my lips as I thought about being with him again. I felt him squeeze my hand and pull me back into his hard chest,

"I know what you're thinking Roza, but you need to focus right now. And so do I." the last was muttered begrudgingly, half turning toward him I pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, before releasing his hand,

"You're right it'll keep," turning my thoughts back to the mess that I'd left last night I continued into the room, holding my breath.

Abe, Lissa and Christian were sitting around the pine table talking animatedly until they saw me, then the conversation stopped dead, 3 pairs of eyes all turning to me, trepidation evident in their depths.

"I…I" biting my lip I inhaled, "I really don't know what to say. I mean, I'm not apologizing to him," Christian's eyes widened at the vehemence in my voice, "What?" I directed at him, "You don't seriously think he didn't deserve what he got? He tried to _kill_ Dimitri!" No one said anything, Lissa and Abe lowered their gaze to look at the pattern of wood on the top of the table,

"No one blames you for what happened Rose," Lissa started still looking at the table top, Christian scoffed, earning himself a glare from Lissa, "I know you would've kicked his ass anyway, but the way you…" she flinched at the memory, I could taste blood, again as I bit the inside of my cheek, "It was scary Rose," finally she was looking at me again, "You lost control, like, complete control. It was like you wanted to kill him." I couldn't look at her then, praying that she wouldn't see the truth in my eyes, that I had wanted him to die. Now though? How would I have felt if I had killed him? I could feel her eyes boring into me as the silence was left a minute too long, gritting my jaw I raised my eyes to look at Abe,

"Where is he?" releasing a breath Abe looked at Lissa, Dimitri and then finally back to me,

"Mia and Sydney have taken him back to Court. It's better if he isn't around with everything that's going on." I looked at him incredulously,

"You sent him back? He knows where we are, he knows what we're planning on doing, not to mention he's supposed to be changing Ilia back, and you've sent him home for being a naughty boy?" I was struggling to reign in the volume of my voice, closing my eyes I counted to ten,

"Do you really think that after everything we've been through I would blow it all?" I averted my eyes to the floor before I muttered,

"No, probably not."

"Of course I wouldn't. It won't matter if Adrian tells them anything, we won't be here soon enough, Ilia," he grimaced, almost like he was bracing himself for something, just as I felt Lissa's apprehension, turning toward her brows drawn together it dawned on me,

"You didn't?" I looked between the three of them, Christian looking anywhere but at me, Abe was looking between Lissa and me in surprise, as Lissa stood and walked towards me.

"I told you that I would, he's _my_ brother, it was my right to." I'd never seen her look so adamant, or so strong. Not only was I trying to block her out of my head last night, but she'd blocked me, my features turned dark as I realized the danger she had put herself in,

"You blocked me out." I was still shocked over that, "Do you know how dangerous that is?" Shaking her head she walked toward me once again,

"There was no danger Rose. He was tied to a chair with silver." She sounded as though she'd used this argument several time, my eyes diverting for a second to Christian who still wouldn't look at us, "And besides any of that, nothing bad happened, we're all here, we're all non-Strigoi, and we're one step closer to clearing your name." I dropped my head into my hand as I rubbed my eyes in frustration.

Something was bothering me, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was something to do with the way Christian was being, looking around Lissa I tried to catch his gaze,

"So what's happened then?" I looked back at Lissa puzzled, "You said nothing bad happened, not that everything was fine, so what happened Lissa?" I looked at Abe, who lowered his eyes to the table once again, "Abe?" The apprehension that Lissa was feeling was still coming off her in waves, I was close to grabbing her and shaking the answer out of her when I heard a thumping noise coming from up stairs, still puzzled I looked at the three of them before turning, walking past Dimitri, out of the room and toward the stairs.

I'd just reached the bottom step, hand on the banister when I heard Lissa speak to me quietly,

"It worked Rose," I froze, hesitantly turning to look at her, afraid of what I might find,

"Lissa, what's going on?" Looking up the stairs as the noise came again, and what sounded like a frustrated growl, my eyes shifting back to Lissa before sprinting up to the room that held Ilia. Swinging open the door my eyes searching the dark room I saw him, and froze. He was chained to the floor, cuffs around his wrists and ankles, he was covered in scratches, the skin completely gouged in places, chunks of hair littered the floor, and under his nails as he skittered across the floor into the corner whimpering. Then it was like he realized I wasn't a threat and tried to launch himself at me, teeth bared, growling and spitting as he pulled at his restraints.

The nauseous feeling that came over me had nothing to do with spirits, Strigoi or the undead of any kind, it was over the tormented and demented creature in front of me.

There were footsteps behind me, not turning, or moving my eyes focused on Ilia,

"What happened to him?" I asked completely dazed,

Lissa walked up to the door, and moved around me, Ilia seemed to calm when he saw Lissa, he stopped pulling at the restraints and dropped to the floor arms around his legs rocking, she walked over to him, whispering words to him before she finally spoke aloud again,

"We don't know, we did everything right as far as we know. We were talking about it when you came downstairs. The only difference between him and Dimitri was that Ilia chose to become Strigoi, Dimitri didn't, so the way I see it Dimitri's body welcomed his soul back, Ilia's is trying to reject it." She ran her hand across Ilia's hunched shoulders and looked down at him adoringly.

Abe walked up behind me, "I've spoke to Oksana and Mark, and albeit hesitantly, they're going to try…" he hesitated, almost like he was looking for the appropriate words, "and help him." I nodded, trying to ignore the million and one things running through my head. Pulling myself together and concentrating once more I turned fully to Abe,

"What do we need to do next? I mean as far as finding out who killed Tatiana?" His eyes never moved from Ilia,

"I don't know, but I have a few ideas, I just need to look into them first." There was something I'd also been thinking about the last couple of days,

"I have an idea, I'm not sure how we'd implement it, but I think I know who it was, that killed Tatiana, and didn't want Lissa able to take her place on the council," I saw Abe's head jerk back in surprise,

"I said I _think_ I know, but to be sure, we need to flush the guilty party out." Abe smiled at the thought, more plotting going on behind Zmey's eyes.

"We're going back to court?" I nodded, resigned but determinedly,

"We have to. It's the only way." We'd done well not being caught or recognized for this long,

"You know they'll arrest you on site, or worse." Clenching my jaw at the though of being back in that cell, I nodded again,

"Looks like we've got some planning to do." I sighed, not returning the smile that had worked it's way onto Zmey's face,

"Yep, looks like it."


	37. Chapter 34

**Hey there everyone, once again I would like to thank everyone for their support, comments and kind words, without them I probably wouldn't be able to find the inspiration that keeps me going :-D I hope you enjoy this chapter, especially as we edge our way toward the finish line. As usual let me know your thoughts/suggestions. R.J.**

Chapter 34.

Walking back towards the kitchen I could hear Dimitri, sounding unusually flustered, talking, knowing Christian was still sitting at the table I pushed the door open coming face to face with Dimitri stalking back and forth in front of the doorway, his dark brows drawn together, he looked angry, then seeing the worried look on Christian's face I looked back at Dimitri, not anger I realized, he was panicked. Not good.

I looked at Christian perplexed and mouthed "Who is it?" He shrugged, then mouthed back, "His Mum? I think." Why would a call from his Mum have him looking like a caged animal intent on escape? _Oh God, not Yeva_, I felt my stomach clench, he'd only seen them yesterday, what could possibly have happened to her? Watching his foreboding presence streak across the kitchen I tried to make out what he was saying, of course my Russian was improving, but still not completely up to par, and whatever he was saying he was firing it off rapidly, making my way over to Christian I sat beside him, not taking my eyes from Dimitri,

"What's he saying?" Christian, like me was watching Dimitri,

"I'm not sure what it's about, but it involves a girl, and he keeps repeating, _I'll find her, don't worry I'll bring her home_." I felt my stomach drop, there was no way…

"Shit." I thumped the table, drawing Dimitri's focus to me, shaking my head I asked,

"Viktoria?" Still holding the phone he nodded solemnly. "Shit."

Christian jumped, then turned to me, looking completely befuddled, "Well obviously you know something I don't?" Eyes back on Dimitri, I watched him as he started his pacing again, obviously trying to placate his mother.

"Yeah," I couldn't keep the derision out of the tone of my voice, grimacing, "The other night when I went to find Adrian, he was at a bar," Christian nodded,

"This the first night you smacked him up?" Even though I wasn't looking at him I could hear the grin that Christian wore, I nodded grimacing again,

"When I found him, he was making out with this chick, it wasn't until I'd…um…smacked him up, that I realized it was Dimitri's sister Viktoria." I heard Christian cover his laugh by coughing, before his features became serious again,

"Oh," I turned to him, giving him a derisive look,

"_Oh_ doesn't even begin to cover it," looking perplexed again, brows drawn together,

"So what's this got to do with his?...Oh…Shit" I couldn't smother the giggle that slipped out over the changes in Christian's face as the penny dropped. "So, has she followed him? Or did he take her?" Shrugging I turned back to Dimitri as he ended the call to his mother,

"The way I see it, either way Adrian's a dead man." I heard Christian suck in a breath, before pushing back his chair and standing,

"I'll leave you guys to it, I'm going to…" he looked and motioned dismissively upstairs,

"Yeah, good luck with that." I gave him a smile before he walked out the door.

Dimitri was walking towards me as he pocketed his phone, his features tense, trying to cheer him up, I knew wouldn't work, so instead I decided it would be best to kill two birds with one stone,

"Abe and I decided we need to go back to Court anyway," I wasn't, however prepared for his reaction,

"No you're not." He spat back at me, furiously, I felt my anger building again,

"Yes. I. Am." Sucking in a cleansing breath, between my clenched teeth, "I need to, we all need to, it's the only way this can all be over." I could see part of the fight drain out of him as realization hit,

"You're right," he stated begrudgingly, which of course brought a smile to my face,

"Of course I'm right Comrade, I'm always right." The rest of the fight drained away as his lips twitched.

"I…when we get back and they throw you back in that cell, I'm not going to be able to protect you, and Roza, I need to be able to protect you." I leant over and grabbed his hand, turning it over I traced love hearts in his palm,

"Well I guess I'm lucky then that Viktoria will be there to distract you." His face became tense again,

"I love you Roza, but you have the most warped sense of humor out of anyone I know, and that includes Christian." I gave him a dark look,

"Hey, I can be funny, you know I can be funny." I saw his lips twitch again. Although I hated to do it I changed the subject again, "We're leaving tonight, Abe's organized for Ilia, Lissa and Christian to stay with Oksana and Mark, they're going to try and help Ilia as much as they can," I sighed, "So what I'm trying to say is that perhaps you should spend some time with your family before we head back." He didn't respond to that instead he asked,

"What's the plan once we get back?" Biting my lip I hesitated,

"We don't know, it depends what they decide to do with me." His brows furrowed, I fought the urge to rub my finger over the crease between them,

"What do you mean you don't know?" sighing again,

"We are hoping that they'll only arrest me again, and that we'll have at least a couple of days before they execute me." Obviously he hadn't thought about that, his features turned grim, his jaw clenched, his eyes hardened,

"You're not going to die Roza, I will break you out again before that happens." He sounded so vicious; I couldn't stop myself from raising my hand and cupping his jaw,

"So protective," I smiled at him slowly as I leaned in and brushed my lips over his, as I was pulling back, he pulled me out of my seat, lifted me so I was straddling him on his chair. His mouth devouring mine, his hands wrapped in my hair, finally I moved from his mouth as I gasped for air, kissing his way along my jaw he murmured huskily in my ear, "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, no matter what. You're mine Roza, only mine." I shivered at the intensity of his words, I probably should've been mad about how possessive he was being, but then again who am I to talk, "I'm not going anywhere this afternoon, I'm right where I should be, where I need to be." He was kissing his way down my neck, I swore there were goosebumps on top of my goosebumps, I closed my eyes and moved to give him better access, savoring every touch.

"Ahem…" I froze, then groaned,

"Why is it every, bloody time…" I felt Dimitri chuckle at my collarbone, before twisting my head to stare daggers at the intruder,

"Sorry to interrupt," The smug look on Christian's face was anything but sorry,

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't pulverize you Fire Boy." His grin spread into a cocky smile,

"You mean other than being the love of your best friend's life?" He actually laughed, which only made me glower harder, "Oh, don't be like that, I just thought I'd better let you know that we're leaving soon. Lissa wants some one on one time with you before we leave." I felt my features relax as it dawned on me that it may be the last time I'd see Lissa. I turned back to Dimitri, cupped his jaw and kissed him lingeringly before pulling away and standing, he grabbed my hand kissed my palm before looking at me, his eyes full of love and of course desire. Smiling I squeezed his hand before letting it go, walking over to Christian.

"Make sure she doesn't do anything else stupid," he smiled at me,

"You know I will try, but you also know if she makes her mind up no one can change her mind." I nodded,

"Look after her then, please." He nodded, his love for Lissa written all over his features,

"Always." I briefly hugged him, which felt odd, then headed upstairs, knowing I'd find her in her room.

I knocked gently on the door, I was a bit apprehensive about this meeting, things between us had been so turbulent lately. I at least was going to try and leave things between us as they'd always been, or at least on a positive note.

I poked my head around the door, "Hey," I smiled unsure how to start, then raced forward towards her sobbing form on the bed, "Lissa, what's wrong?" Pulling her into my arms, her tear drenched face on my shoulder,

"I…I'm sorry Rose…so sorry for everything, I want us to be friends again like we were before," she hiccupped, I chuckled as she pretty much repeated my thoughts out loud, pulling away from me looking affronted, "What on Earth is so funny?"

"You just said what I was thinking, it was strange it not being the other way around," I smiled at her teary face wryly. "Now, I don't want to sound like a complete bitch or anything, but you know I don't deal with tears real well," hard to believe with the amount of time I'd spent crying lately, "And honestly wouldn't you prefer it if we talked rather than cried, come on, tell me what's been happening with you and Fire Boy." She hiccupped again, and smiled, wiping at the tears,

She went on to give me a monologue about her and Christian, it was evident from the emotions and thoughts coming at me through our bond that she and Christian had put their separation behind them, and loved each other more than ever. I smiled, relief flowing through me at how happy she was,

"And now I have Ilia as well," She sighed the ecstatic smile not faltering, "I know we'll be able to get him well again, I mean, I don't know what he was like before but I know he'll be alright." She suddenly turned somber again, "Thank you Rose," I shook my head at her,

"Don't Lissa, you have nothing to thank me for, if it wasn't for that letter from Tatiana we wouldn't even know about him." I felt a wave of anguish come at me,

"What are you going to do now?" I didn't need her to clarify, I knew she was talking about when I went back to Court, I shrugged,

"We're working on a couple of things," I hesitated, "I know I promised that I wouldn't leave you behind again, but, well, circumstances have changed now haven't they?" Sighing she nodded,

"Yes, things are different," Suddenly brightening up, "Besides, you're not leaving me, I'm choosing to stay. I need to stay." I could feel the tension behind her smile, but didn't let on. I knew she was putting on a brave front.

"I'm going to miss you, promise me you'll stay safe, please." I felt the tension go out of her smile,

"I'll be fine, but I want you to promise me that you'll be back here soon to come and get us." Her voice wavered, my vision going blurry, I pulled her to me and hugged her tight,

"I'll come back as soon as I can, I promise." Not knowing for certain if it was a promise I could in fact keep.


	38. Chapter 35

**Hi guys, I am soooo sorry that it has taken me this long to upload, but I can blame being sick last week...I started reading The Lords of the Underworld Series by Gena Showalter (totally for adults guys ;-) 18+) and have become completely obsessed with her stuff...I've just finished Intertwined (Y.A. 16+) and LOVE HER WORK! So needless to say I have been completely and utterly distracted the last couple of days...but never the less I have finally finished the next chapter...I hope you enjoy ;-) R.J.**

Chapter 35.

Saying goodbye to Lissa and Christian was hard, for so many reasons. The part of me that was her Guardian couldn't stand her being left here pretty much unprotected, sure she has Christian and will be close to Mark, not to mention Oksana's awesomely strong powers, but it still didn't sit right. The other part of me, the part that had left Lissa before, the part of me that was Lissa's best friend, was going to miss her like crazy, but I could even deal with that on some level knowing that I would be able to check on her. The part that I was finding difficult to deal with was the knowledge that there was always the slightest chance that I wouldn't see her in the flesh again. I didn't share that knowledge with her of course, she wouldn't have let me go otherwise. Abe and Dimitri went along with them to help them settle in, while I was left at the house to finish packing.

I was alone with my thoughts, I realized that it had been the first time since I'd been freed from prison that I'd really been by myself, and the thought didn't sit well. My skin felt too tight, like it was too small for my body, I felt on edge and agitated, in all honesty I couldn't explain it, but I felt odd.

I was being stupid. It was probably because Lissa had just left. I walked upstairs, deciding I'd have a long soak in the bath before I finished packing and we had to leave.

Lying in the luxuriously fragranced water did nothing to alleviate the funny feeling that had come over me. Closing my eyes, I forced my body to relax, unexpectedly I drifted off to sleep at some stage, because the next time I opened my eyes I felt completely disorientated, looking around me, I was still in the bath, but, lookin around me I realized I was in Adrian's room back at Court.

Feeling completely disconcerted it dawned on me that I was dreaming, and Adrian was paying me a visit. I grimaced. There had to be some way to ban him from walking in my dreams. I was still really pissed at him and didn't know how I would react to seeing him again, not to mention that I was sitting in a bath completely naked. I could feel my skin burning up, and was sure that every part of my body was bright red in mortification and anger.

Adrian walked through the door and stopped abruptly, looking confused,

"Um…are you asleep or am I?" It was a shock to see his face unmarred and back to his play boy best, after the damage I'd inflicted on him last night,

"This has to be a nightmare," I gritted out, "Because the only reason you would be in my dreams Adrian was if I was to finish what I started last night." I saw him flinch,

"You've been drinking again haven't you?" I registered the annoyance wash over his features,

"No. If I had I wouldn't be able to be in your dreams Rose," he sighed sounding frustrated, "I actually brought you here so I could apologize to you, and to let you know that Viktoria is here, and she's kind of really pissed at you." That blew me away,

"Me? What about you? Or didn't you tell her that you'd tried to kill her brother by staking him through the heart?" He turned his head, but not before I saw the shame, guilt and anger that flowed through his eyes.

"You need to tell her Adrian. She has a right to know, because if you don't then I will." I saw his body become tense, his fists clenched, still looking away from me.

"We…hell I don't know, she gets me Rose, she understands…" I cut him off,

"Oh come on Adrian, you've known her what a total of five minutes. She's Dimitri's little sister for fucks sake. You know he's going to want your balls don't you?" I couldn't stop the menacing grin from spreading across my lips,

"I didn't ask her to come with me Rose," He was all but yelling at me now, his anger barely reigned in, "She'd come to the house to see you, make sure for herself that you were ok, she saw Sydney and Mia packing their stuff in the car, they told her what had happened," Looking at him completely confused he continued bitingly, "Yeah she knows that I tried to kill her brother, she thinks it's funny that I was able to come as close as I did, she says that as much as she loves her brother, he can be a jerk at times and that she's wanted to stake him on more than one occasion, and seen as I didn't kill him…" he shrugged, then most surprisingly he smiled as he became lost in his thoughts,

"Look Adrian, bottom line, cause I have to get back, you know things to do etcetera, etcetera, I'm not going to apologize anytime soon for what I did. So that being said and you've said what you need to…" This time he cut me off,

"Actually, I…there is something else I wanted to tell you." I held my breath, _Please don't say anything about your Mum, please don't say anything about your Mum_. "I know I was a complete douche, and you'll never know how sorry I am about that, but I'm happy that you're happy little Dhampir." What? I'm pretty certain that my face was expressing just how much shock I was in, because he actually laughed, "Don't look so surprised, Rose. I was surrounded by three very opinionated women on the way home, and they may have made me see that I overreacted just a little." He gave me a wry grin, I was flabbergasted. My mind was completely incapable of thought.

"Anyway, I'd better let you get back to your bath. And just for the future Rose, you probably shouldn't fall asleep in the bath. It's not safe." I jolted upright, water splashing over the sides of the tub.

_That was so weird_. He hadn't mentioned his Mum. I would've thought that he'd be pissed about that. Unless…? No, I definitely remember it happening. She had just stepped out of the elevator, I kicked her and then dragged her back into the car… it definitely happened. I could feel a headache starting to throb behind my eyes, standing I stepped out of the now tepid water, grabbed a towel and dried myself, trying to shake the completely surreal conversation that had just taken place.

I was still trying to come to terms with it when I walked back into the bedroom, fully clothed and clean, but no less tense than I was before I'd decided to soak. I quickly grabbed everything I would need and stashed it in my duffel bag, opened the door and walked downstairs. I was sitting at the table in the kitchen when Dimitri and Abe returned home, I heard Abe walk up stairs and close the door to his study, the next thing I knew Dimitri walked through the kitchen door, smiling.

"How do you do that?" I asked him with a cheeky grin,

"Do what?" He looked puzzled,

"You always seem to know where I am," His face turned somber, and I could swear he was…blushing? "What?"

"Um…well, it's sort of easy to find you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I can always find you because I can smell you." I felt my head rock back in astonishment,

"You mean, like you could scent me when you were turned?" he nodded,

"I guess not everything changed back when I changed. Plus…" He was studying the floor again, "I drank so much of your blood…knowing where you are is almost instinctual. Its like I can feel you." I laughed at the double meaning, "Not like that, you know what I mean Roza." Smiling I nodded as he walked over to me, cupping my jaw. As he looked into my eyes I saw the guilt flash in his dark depths, stretching up I pressed a kiss to his neck over his pulse, letting him know that it was alright, it still annoyed me that he felt guilty.

"What's Abe doing?" I was watching the ceiling like it would show me the answers,

"He was looking into something before he checked to make sure that everything was all in order for our departure tonight." I sighed,

"I'm not looking forward to going back," I grimaced and felt Dimitri's hands tighten their hold, "Hey, it'll be alright, you know that right." His eyes were locked on mine,

"The only thing I know Roza, is that if anyone threatens you again, I will not be able to control my reaction." I closed my eyes then opened them again to look at his features almost pleadingly,

"Dimitri," I was impressed that my voice didn't waiver, "Whatever happens to me, I need you to promise me you won't do anything to put yourself in danger." He pulled away from me in disgust,

"I can not make that promise, and you know that." I growled in frustration,

"_I_ need you to make that promise Dimitri," I was imploring him, "No matter what, _I_ need you to come back here and look after Lissa." Dimitri had stalked over to the sink and was now leaning over it, shoulders hunched, tense.

I pushed myself away from the table and walked over to him, he flinched when I placed my hand on his rigid shoulder,

"Please, Dimitri, please promise me you won't do anything stupid." He sucked in a deep breath, and raggedly let it out before lifting his head and turning toward me,

"Roza, how can you possibly ask this of me? Do you expect me to just leave you there? To rot in a cell…or worse?" His body vibrated with tension.

"Yes," He pulled away from me again letting out a frustrated growl, "If there is nothing else that we can do, I want you to leave me there and come back here for Lissa." I sounded so determined.

"Christ, Rose are you listening to yourself? Fuck Lissa!" I gasped at his outburst, "We've had this conversation before if I remember correctly, we discussed how _they_ always come first, well fuck that Rose. I am not losing you over one of _them_." He spat the words out, his features contorted. I was amazed at how calm I was being over the whole thing despite the shock of Dimitri's reaction. He was, no _is_, a Guardian. He shouldn't be saying these things.

"You know if it comes down to it I'm not going to be able to stop you Comrade, but it's better that one of us is free than neither of us." His fists were clenched, he looked like he was about to punch something,

"I know I'm interrupting you two, once again, but I've just received a phone call that I thought you might be interested in." both Dimitri and I swung around to face a scowling Abe,

"Why's that?" Abe's face looked dark and foreboding.

"The files that were stolen from The Alchemist's. It turns out that the cameras have been tampered with, so I organized for the original tapes to be replaced with replicas. The original tapes have been sent to an acquaintance of mine." I didn't say anything but wore an expression that said "And?"

"The 'experts' investigating the break in have found fingerprints at the scene, but they can't match them with anyone in their database," I felt my brow crease, "So again I organized for someone to get a copy of them, and ran them through our database, it would seem that they matched someone," I gasped, "In fact Rose, it seems that it was someone you know very well." His jaw was tense, he was furious.

"Who?" I asked breathless,

"Would you believe me if I told you that they matched Janine Hathaway?" _No freaking way!_


	39. Chapter 36

**Hey there everyone, I am very sorry that it has taken me this long to update. I've been a little distracted with work, not to mention the kids. With the weather warming up (seen as it's spring now), we've had lots of gardening to catch up on, as well as a couple of the local Shows. I will be endevouring however to try and finish by next week. Until then, here is the next chapter and as always I eagerly await to hear your thoughts, ideas and comments. Until next time :-D R.J.**

Chapter 36.

I stood there, my mouth agape, trying to come to terms with the words that my father had just uttered,

"You're trying to tell me that my _Mother_, the great Janine Hathaway, is responsible for breaking into an Alchemist facility and stealing the missing documents?" I asked in disbelief, "The woman, that is so straight laced, she couldn't put a foot wrong? I mean, we're not talking about some other person with the same name are we?" Abe was standing so still I almost missed the negative movement of his head,

"It would seem that it is the one and the same." He gritted out, "I've been trying to contact her since we left Court, but she is currently…unattainable." The last was said with a grimace.

I managed to close my mouth with a snap. Without turning I could feel Dimitri's gaze, I hesitantly turned to him, not knowing what to expect when I met his eyes. I wasn't surprised when I saw the deep concern; it was hard to miss the deadly glint in his chocolate brown depths,

"If she is responsible, we will find her and deal with it." He forced out between clenched teeth. Sighing I ran my hand through my already disheveled hair,

"So what's the plan then?" I started pacing again, feeling the agitated energy building I couldn't sit still.

"We're still going back to Court as originally planned. Until we find out what's on those tapes we won't know for certain who is behind the break in." Abe lifted is arm to check the time on his thin, gold watch, "We're leaving in twenty minutes for the airfield, by the time we get back to Viktor's we should know what is on those tapes." I groaned silently at the prospect of having to see Viktor Dashkov again, closing my eyes I remembered the last time I was in his presence, in his office, when Adrian stormed out after finding Dimitri holding my hand. Like instant replay I remembered the events leading up to that moment, they were running like a movie being fast forwarded through my head, and just like a movie it paused. My eyes flew open as I let out a loud gasp, my eyes flying to connect with Dimitri's.

"What is it?" He asked brows furrowed,

"Tatiana." Confused Abe lifted his head,

"What has she got to do with the break in?" It was only just sinking in that Abe wasn't aware of the conversation (if that's what you could call it) that had taken place with the former Queen's spirit. Sorting through the images that were bombarding me in my mind's eye, I was pulling out all the bits that were relevant, the rest I pushed to the back of my mind until I had time to think later, I explained briefly how Tatiana had appeared,

"She wasn't able to speak to me, but she could nod and move about and what have you, anyway, I asked her some questions, and from what I can gather she knew about Ilia." I barely paused for a breath before I continued, "She knew about the break in at the Alchemist's facility, and she knew about the documents that were stolen. She knows who it was that killed her, what she didn't know was who had broken into the facility, but she did have her suspicions." I paused as the ramifications of the next statement I was about to make set in on me,

"She believed that the person that killed her was the same person that stole the documents." The words sounded like they'd been dragged out of me. Abe's angry features became twisted and violent, his knuckles turning white with the force he was clenching them at his sides, his nostrils flared,

"The sooner we get that video footage the better, if it was Janine," he paused collecting himself, "If she is responsible for any part of this, I will tear her limb from limb, for letting you take the fall."

"I know I don't know her that well," I was shaking my head trying to clear my thoughts, "And believe me I'm not her number one fan, but I still…I can't believe that she would have anything to do with this." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dimitri move towards me, then stop short when I looked at him. Abe lifted his arm to look at his watch once more,

"We'll know soon enough, come on, it's time to leave." He turned on his heel and walked out the door, leaving me alone with Dimitri once more.

We looked at each other, I didn't know what to say, I lifted my hand and ran it through my hair once again, before I dropped it at my side frustrated. Turning to follow Abe out of the room, my hand was grabbed and I was spun back toward him, his free hand tangled in my hair as he clamped it around my neck and pulled me towards his mouth as it descended toward mine. The kiss was intense. As our lips met it felt like he was marking me, branding me as his, it was possessive, my lips opened to his and I felt something shift inside me, as though the gaping hole that had been slowly healing since he'd been turned back had completely healed, sealed, and made stronger. He lifted my hand that he was still holding up to his chest placing it over his thundering heart before he pulled back, his forehead resting on mine, our rasping breaths mingling between us,

"How you drive me mad Roza," He all but whispered, as his hands massaged my scalp, running through my hair, he forced me to look into his eyes, "We are going to get through this together, Rose, and when we do, you and I will have decisions that we will need to make." A shadow of a smile played on his lips as he briefly closed his eyes, opening them they locked with mine. He looked like he was going to say something else, but instead lent toward me and pressed a brief kiss to my swollen lips and pulling away from me completely. My heart was racing still, my mind had turned to mush, I desperately wanted to believe him that we would get through this, however I wasn't thinking about the "decisions" that we would need to make. There was still too much that needed to be done before I could think that far ahead.

"Come on, we'd better get a move on, I have a lot of plans for us Roza, and I can't do anything about them until we have all of this behind us." He smiled warmly at me as he turned and walked out of the door.

The journey back to the United States was uneventful to say the least. Dimitri sat next to me reading one of his beloved cowboy books, Abe spent the first half of our flight on his laptop, and flicking through papers and documents, before he closed the computer, shoved the documents back in to the manila folder that sat beside him and went to sleep.

I was still reeling from the possibility that it might be my mother behind everything. Something that was really annoying me though, was why? What could she possibly have to gain out of framing her own daughter for the murder of the Moroi Queen? And what would any of that have to do with Ilia? Still not wanting to think about it too much I decided I'd check in and see how Lissa was doing. Closing my eyes so it would look as though I was asleep, I felt Lissa's emotions wash over me.

She was outside, lying on the grass, looking up at the velvet of the night sky, the stars were shimmering like diamonds, the moon hung big and bright, turning her head she watched Christian's profile as he pointed out the different constellations. She was so happy and lighthearted, it felt like champagne bubbles,

"Thank you," Pausing Christian turned to Lissa, a smile was playing over his lips, their hands intertwining between them,

"For what exactly?" He sounded slightly puzzled, Lissa laughed nervously, then sighed.

"Forgiving me. For not giving up on me, for supporting me, for helping me with Ilia, and I totally know it sounds cliché, but for being you." His smirking face turned somber,

"You don't need to thank me for any of that Lissa, God if anyone needs to be saying thank you, it's me. I want to thank whatever force or deity or whatever that's out there that made you hide out in the attic of the church back at St. Vlad's. I also want to thank them that you kept coming back to hang out with me." He reached out and cupped her face, the love that Lissa felt for him radiated through our bond, the love that Christian felt for Lissa was written clearly all over his features, "Whatever the reason that you love me, that you actually want to be with me, I am thankful for." It was the longest speech I'd heard Christian give in a while, I smiled at that, not wanting to intrude any further I opened my eyes, Dimitri was sitting watching me, a smile playing along his sensuous lips. I smiled at him nervously, as my cheeks grew hot,

"Busted?" He laughed, as I bit my lip,

"I didn't mean to disturb you, it's just you looked so content. And I wanted to know what it was that put that smile on your face." He looked so cute when he was trying not to let on that he was embarrassed. I smiled warmly at him then,

"You didn't disturb me, I was checking on Lissa," I reached over and squeezed his large hand, twining my fingers with his.

"How is she?" I felt her excitement, happiness and most of all her love through our bond before trying to be nonchalant,

"Happy," It had to be the understatement of the year. Abe walked up the isle from the cockpit,

"I've just spoken with the pilot, we're getting ready to start our descent. We'll be landing in about fifteen minutes." With a tight smile I nodded my head,

"There's a car waiting for us at the airfield, when we've gone through all the usual rigmarole, we will head to Viktor's." He paused like he didn't know if he should continue or not, "Viktor won't be there," He hesitated again, "He and Robert are…away at the moment." I gave him a quizzical look,

"Once we get to the house," Obviously he wasn't going to elaborate over Viktor and Robert's whereabouts. "I should have the footage that we need." I nodded again, as he continued up the aisle to his seat. Once he was seated I turned to Dimitri,

"Well that was weird." He looked puzzled too.

"I agree," He also didn't elaborate.

"What is it with the men in my life?" I muttered to myself.


	40. Author's Note 3

Hi Everyone...I am really really really sorry that I haven't updated in AGES! And sorry Meme but I can't really come up with anything more exciting at the moment lol, other than our computer at home died, now the weather has improved everyone is throwing parties and catching up etc, and work has been a bit crazy :-S So to make it up to you I will endeavour to finish this by the end of next week if it kills me! I'm actually looking forward to finding out what happens myself ;-) Cheers RJ xxoo


	41. Author's Note 4

Hello once again,

Once more I need to apologize to you...I was hoping that our new computer would have arrived by today, but after spending A LOT of time on the phone with Apple we have discovered that we should have it by the middle of next week, which means that I can't upload anything new (mainly because the site won't let me upload from my iPad) until then I have been writing on my iPad, so hopefully I will be able to bring you the end of the story VERY VERY VERY SOON!

R.J. :-S


	42. Chapter 37

**So guys after a VERY LONG break here is the next chapter...hope you enjoy and I will update very soon :-)**

After we landed we were picked up by one of Zmey's men and driven to Viktor's house. I wasn't happy that we were having to rely on Viktor once more, and as far as I was concerned this was the last time that I was going to ever need him for anything. Once we entered the foyer, Abe took off for the study, muttering that he had phone calls to make and things he needed to look into, which left Dimitri and I alone looking at each other. Although neither of us had brought it up there was still a lot of things that had been left unsaid, and now wasn't the time to bring them up, silently I walked ahead of him up the stairs to the room that we had occupied the last time we had been there.

Walking into the room it was strange to think that so much had happened since our previous stay. It felt like months not mere days since Dimitri and I had been caught making out on the bed by my father, I couldn't contain my chuckle as I caught site of the bed, as my eyes lifted the connected with Dimitri's and locked, obviously he was remembering too as there was a smirk on his mobile lips. If it was simply the memory of what had taken place previously or simply being alone with him again in a bedroom, I could feel my body respond to his unspoken invitation, it was only when I dropped my bag at the end of the bed with a loud thunk that I came back to reality and realised there was a hell of a lot that I needed to prepare myself for.

I grimaced before letting out a sigh, running a hand through my disheveled hair,

"So I'm just going to go and get some air," without saying anything Dimitri, nodded, his face marred by the faintest of frowns. Without acknowledging it I turned and walked out of the room, silently closing the door behind me.

After the last time that I was here, when Tatiana had spoken to me I was hesitant about stepping outside of the wards, playing with the ring that had been charmed on my right hand, I was pondering if it would be worth trying to speak to the spirits again when I heard loud, angry voices. Not wanting to miss anything I quietly slinked my way down the hall where the noise was coming from. As I crept closer to the office, I realised that it was Abe yelling. He was speaking in what I presumed was Turkish, his clipped accent was abrupt and harsh. Obviously he wasn't happy about something. Deciding I would speak to him once he was off the phone I made my way back down the hall towards the main entrance. As I was reaching for the handle I heard a gasp, acting instinctively I spun toward the noise, as recognition kicked in I felt every muscle in my body clench bone.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Eyebrows raised the intruder stalked toward me,

"Really Rosemarie is that any way to greet your mother?" Clenching my jaw to stop myself from screaming at her I responded through gritted teeth,

"What are you doing here?" Janine Hathaway stood there looking surprised at my continued vehemence, her red hair as always slicked back, her weather freckled weather worn skin looking as it always did. I fought back the urge to vomit, swallowing the bile rising from my stomach, this was the woman that had given birth to me, how the hell could she try and frame me for murdering the Queen? She is also the women who left you... an insidious voice replied.

"I came to help you, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help after you were arrested. I felt bad, so I requested for some personal leave, and came to find you." Taken aback that she had requested leave, The Great Janine Hathaway never took leave. I continued to eye her warily,

"And how did you find us here?" Rearing her head back, eyes wide, she looked at me like I'd lost my mind,

"Your father told me of course, how else?" I felt my teeth click together,

"And you just expect me to believe you?" It was said more matter of fact than an actual question,

"Look Rose, I know I let you down when you were first arrested, but I'm here now. I understand that you're angry with me, but I still had a job to do." I couldn't stop the disbelieving laugh from slipping past my lips,

"Oh, yes Mother, I understand completely that you had a job to do. But right now I need for you to give me one reason not to kick your ass for setting your own daughter up." I spat at her through bared teeth, clenching my fists I stalked toward her full of menace, "Tell me Mom what did you get for framing your daughter? I hope it was something you will at least value more than you ever did me!" I was all but yelling by the time I'd finished snarling at her. I squinted my eyes as I saw her skin turn even more pallid, scoffing I continued, "What? You've got nothing to say, now that is surprising..." I never had an opportunity to continue as my head was thrown back with the force of my Mother's fist connecting with my chin.

I recovered quickly, ducking as she tried to land another blow on me. Jaw and neck throbbing I glared at her,

"If you just shut your mouth for more than five seconds Rose, you would know that I have no idea what you're talking about." She gritted out in her Scottish brogue,

"Sorry if I just don't believe you there Mother dearest," I snorted out in disbelief. We were still circling each other, one waiting for the other to make a move. "Honestly I don't know why I don't just kill you myself for what you've put us through, for what you have done." Janine Hathaway stopped where she was and laughed, not a crazed laugh, a genuine honest to God laugh. Taken aback I pulled away from her, eyebrows raised in question.

"And what the fuck is so funny?" Wiping the tears from her eyes, my Mother started to shake her head,

"Oh you are Rose, I mean really, first you accuse me of trying to frame you and then you talk about killing me," she let out a derisive snort, "Which in itself is hilarious. But even more than that is that I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." We were standing there facing each other once again, neither of us had heard anyone enter the foyer,

"Then perhaps you'd both better come into the dining room so we can talk." Taken completely by surprise, my mother and I turned to face Abe,

"Hello again Abe." my Mother nodded,

"Janine" my Father replied abruptly. Sighing I shook my head, great family reunion time. Again.


	43. Chapter 38

**Hey guys...well here's another chapter...I haven't edited it so please let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy ;-) Cheers, R.J.**

Chapter 38

Sitting in the semi darkness of the clearly seldom used dining room was surreal. My mother was seated on my left, my father on my right and the tension had clearly escalated the moment that we entered the room and had each taken our seat.

Sighing to myself as I leaned back in the high backed padded chair, arms crossed my eyes flicking from one parent to the other. It almost would've been comical if not for the reason we were here.

"I've asked Dimitri if he would mind taking a look around and to make sure the wards are still in place and strong." Instead of replying I simply nodded, not that he would have noticed anyway. Abe's furious glare was zoned in on Janice's perplexed features as she held his gaze.

"Right well is someone going to explain to me why I'm being glared at like scum, or to I have to beat it out of you Ibrahim?" I could hear the underlying ice in my mothers lilting tone, raising my eyebrows I turned toward Abe, his dark brows furrowing, the lines on his face betraying the seemingly restrained facade he was holding up.

"I think you know damn well what's going on Janine," his lips curled up in a scowl, "And in about another five minutes I will have irrefutable proof that you are behind not only framing our daughter, but also the murder of Tatiana Ivashkov, and ultimately Grand Treason." There wasn't a gasp, but the look that covered Janine Hathaway's face, washing all remnants of color from her features and turning her skin pallid and waxy. Sitting there watching her reaction seemed to make her age ten years right in front of my eyes. Drawing my brows together I was awaiting a response, a denial, admission anything, instead she simply sat there like a statue, mouth still hanging open in shock at the accusation that Zmey had confronted her with. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Abe grimace, "What's wrong Janine, don't tell me that you didn't think that we would find out?" Slowly, like she was in slow motion, my Mother lifted her head to look at Abe. She still wore the same expression, she still was the awful color. Shaking her head she seemed to bring herself back to the moment, i briefly saw a glint of something in her eye.

"I may be a lot of things Ibrahim, but I am not a traitor." She barely got the words past her stiff lips, she pulled them back to bare her teeth as she continued, "And I may not have any right to call myself Rosemarie's Ma, but I am her Mother. I am the one that gave birth to her, and I would never, never do anything to jeopardize her or her future." I felt her vehemence in every word she threw at Zmey, I was also a little surprised. Spinning her head she turned to me, "We may have had disagreements over many things Rose, but I can't believe that you would think that I would be capable of this?" Averting my eyes, I quickly caught an almost smug look cross Abe's face, before it was wiped away, once again looking full of menace and foreboding. Drawing my brows together I pushed the strange insidious thoughts out of my mind to focus on my Mother.

"Although I honestly don't know what you're capable of Mother," Sighing at the hardening of her features I stood to leave the room, "I suppose we'll have an answer to that little question in a few minutes time though won't we?" Without another word I left the room, walking solemnly towards Dimitri and my room. I entered and walked over to where I had dropped my bag at the foot of the bed, replaying the conversation that hadn't exactly given us any of the answers we were looking for. Something was niggling every time I would think about my mother's denial of any involvement or wrong doing, I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was there as clear as day. Reaching into the bag I found what I was looking for, and pulled out the bandages. I needed to work out some of this tension, and decided that there must be a gym in this godforsaken mausoleum with a punching bag. I pulled off my jeans, threw on a pair of black cotton shorts and sat down to tie up the laces on my running shoes when someone entered the room. Before I'd even lifted my head I knew it wasn't Dimitri, I couldn't feel the zap of awareness run over me that always occurred whenever he was near. Lifting my head nonchalantly I froze. Every instinct telling me to get up and run, instead I sat there, raising up so I was sitting on the end of the bed. Eyes warily following the movements of Adrian's mother, Daniella Ivashkov.

"Well, Rose, I have to thank you for not killing me the last time we saw each other." I followed her movements as she walked towards me with all the grace and elegance she had always possessed, it was her eyes that held malice, anger and violence, "It is such as shame that I unfortunately cannot afford you the same courtesy." Still sitting there, trying to gauge what she had planned, what she was doing there, I tried to stall her,

"Mrs Ivashkov, what are you doing? How did you know we were here?" her only response was laughter, the tinkling sound sending chills up and down my spine as I felt my body become cold with apprehension,

"Oh Rose, you know I always did hope that you and I could be close," She was smiling, looking like the upper echelon society queen that she was, "And now you and I will be very close." She was leaning over me, her face a breath away from mine, as she eyed my flickering pulse at the edge of my jaw. Knowing I had to make my move, do something I swung right fist, hoping to connect with her face pushing her out of the way so I would have room to attack, but nothing happened. My arm wasn't moving, it was still by my side, my hands resting on my upper thighs. Eyes widening as I tried again and failed to move anything. As she became aware of my distress Daniella started up her tinkling laughter once again, standing she was rubbing her hands together,

"Oh this is so much better than even I had anticipated." It was like she was talking to someone, but there was clearly no one there, nodding her head she turned and was in my face once again, still smiling serenely, "Night, night Rose. I do hope the bed bugs don't bite." She whispered before I felt a searing pain down my neck where sharp teeth were ripping into my jugular. I couldn't scream, I couldn't struggle all I could do was gasp as I sucked in air, before long my eyes started to feel heavy, as I fought to keep them open I saw Daniella standing in the door way to the room speaking to someone, the suction on my neck intensified before the unidentified person turned and snapped a terse "That's enough!" then everything became black.

I could hear scuffling sounds, someone was shouting my name from far away, and I could have sworn it sounded like they were sobbing. Slightly I cracked open my eyes, brow wrinkling I squeezed my eyes shut once more before opening them again. Reaching my hand to my throbbing forehead, I slowly sat up, fighting the wave of dizziness that came over me. Sucking in deep breaths to try and quell the rolling of my stomach I braced myself as I swung my legs over the side of the hard surface I was lying on. Once the dizziness at passed I lifted my head from where it hung between my shoulders and took in my surroundings. Chuckling to myself without humor when I realized exactly where I was. Shaking my head it dawned on me that I hadn't dreamed or imagined the sobbing or shouting of my name, recognizing the deep Russian accent as Dimitri's.

"Dimitri?" I yelled out, as I grabbed at my throat when searing pain ripped through me. Feeling the bandage, I pulled the tape away to feel the remnants of a scar. Wincing I yelled again louder.

"Roza? Oh thank God. Are you alright?" Realizing he wasn't able to come to me I walked forward toward the bars of the cell I had not all that long ago vacated. Leaning my head against the cold metal I closed my eyes, "Roza?" swallowing the lump that had caught in my throat I sucked in a deep breath,

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?" He let out a relieved laugh,

"I've been worse." I couldn't help but smile at his derisive tone. Closing my eyes I fought back the anguish I was feeling.

"Dimitri, what the fuck happened?" There was a pause before I heard his tortured sigh,

"I honestly don't know Roza, I just don't know. One minute I was checking the wards at Viktor's house and the next I was waking up here."

"Shit!" I thumped a fist against the cold metal. "What about Abe and my Mother? Do you know what happened with them?" There was a pause before he replied,

"Sorry Rose, I don't know what happened with them." Turning around I slid down the metal onto the cold stone floor. I sat there quietly contemplating how everything had come full circle. I was now sitting back here in the cell, in more trouble than the last time, and no one able to help get me out this time. The man that I love a few cells down from me looking at the same morbid fate.

"We're screwed aren't we?" I asked Dimitri, I heard him swear in Russian before pounding his fist into the stone wall, "I'll take that as yep we're screwed." I sighed dejectedly letting my head fall to my knees.


	44. Chapter 39

**Hi there guys, so here's the next instalment, I hope you like it...and thank you for all the feedback...keep it coming :-D Cheers, R.J.**

Chapter 39.

"Lissa. Lissa wake up." She groaned as Christian lent over her and tried to gently shake her awake,

"Oh come on, just five more minutes. Please." Rolling over she pulled the soft feather pillow over her head, hoping to sink back into the warm, soothing sleep she'd just been stirred from.

"Come on Liss. Something's happened I really need you to get up ok." That caught her attention, sitting bolt upright the pillow fell from her still sleepy face to plop into her lap, startled eyes frantically searched Christian's features.

"Ilia?" Shaking his head Christian reached for her hand,

"No Ilia is fine, he's downstairs having breakfast with Oksana. When I left they were discussing Russian poetry." He grimaced. Giving a little chuckle Lissa shook her head, becoming somber very quickly,

"What is it then?" Her stomach dropped, her eyes widening as the answer became apparent, "She's...she's not..." she couldn't bring herself to say the words as her skin leached of the little color it held. Squeezing her hand reassuringly Christian shook his head,

"No, she's not dead." The breath that Lissa was holding raced out of her in relief,

"Well what's happened then?" Watching Christian's pensive face, she wanted to rub away the crease that was forming between his furrowed brows, but she also knew that whatever had put it there wasn't going to be good news for her.

"Rose and Dimitri have been captured, they've been arrested again and are currently awaiting their execution." The breath that Lissa had just released was frozen in her airways. She couldn't breath, couldn't move. She knew Christian was telling her more, but she couldn't hear him, there was a buzzing noise filling her head, sounding like millions of cicadas in an echoing room.

"Lissa." Her unseeing eyes seemed to come into focus again, "Lissa, I need you to listen to me OK?" Running his hands up and down her arms to comfort her, Christian's pleading face suddenly became dark. "Lissa! I don't know what's going on. I've been trying to get a hold of Abe, Adrian and Mia to see what they could tell me, but no ones answering their phones, so I tried Sydney, she doesn't know all the details, but she said something about Rose and Dimitri being brought in after they were found trying to kill Daniella Ivashkov." Lissa's head snapped up in shock,

"What?" Her hands were trembling, "Adrian's Mom? But...why?" Christian shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, before brushing his fringe out of his face,

"I don't know, it doesn't make any sense none of it. Sydney's going to ring me as soon as she knows anything else." Mind frantically trying to grasp all the questions running through her head Lissa nodded wordlessly, then sat silently for a minute as she tried to make sense of everything.

"We have to go back." She whispered leaning into Christian's warm shoulder.

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do." Pressing a kiss to the side of his neck, she lifted her head to look up into his intense eyes,

"It is. We need to leave today. Ring Sydney back and tell her that we're coming. Maybe she'll have more information by the time we land." Lifting her hand she cupped his jaw. "Thank you," She whispered as she barely brushed his lips with hers, "I don't know how I ever got so lucky to find you, but I'm so very grateful that I have you." Leaning in closer their mouths met.

"No! No, no, no!" As I came back into myself I was slamming my fist into the wall. She couldn't be coming, she was finally safe. She wasn't alone, she had Ilia and Christian. Swallowing back the lump of emotion in my throat I dropped onto the edge of the cot, my head in my hands.

"They're not staying are they?" I barely suppressed the shiver Dimitri's voice sent down my spine before blowing my fringe from off my face.

"Yep, you guessed it. They don't know what's going on either. They can't get a hold of anyone, except Sydney." Shaking my head I slammed my fist down on the cot beside my leg, "We were supposedly caught trying to kill Daniella Ivashkov," I laughed derisively, "Don't they realize if we wanted the bitch dead she already would be?" Dimitri gave a wry chuckle,

"I guess not Roza, but either way we're still no closer to understanding what's going on." And therein lay the crux of our problem, aside from knowing that Daniella Ivashkov was somehow involved we didn't know who any of the other players in this game were, we didn't know what end game had been planned, all we did know was that Dimitri and I were to be executed in three days without trial for treason, murder, conspiring to overthrow the crown and now of course attempted murder, as well as a long list of other crimes that included my escape from this hell hole. I grimaced remembering the long list the Guardian, currently standing watch from the top of the stairs, had come down to read to us.

Lying down on the cot I stared at the ceiling, once again running everything through my mind from the time that we had touched down.

"Rose?" Bringing me out of me reverie,

"Yeah."

"Your father, he hasn't always been an upstanding citizen." It wasn't a question, brows furrowing I wondered why we were talking about Abe.

"Yeah I know, and?" Knowing he wouldn't be able to just come out and say it with the Guardian's present made having any conversation difficult.

"On the plane, he was talking about a video. Did he get to tell you what he found on there?" Of course he hadn't my Mom showed up and...

"Shit..." I hissed out a breath, I could hear Dimitri moving about his cell now,

"Did he find what we suspected or something else?" He almost sounded like he was demanding the answers now.

"I don't know what he found. After our family reunion he was going to find out and then let us know, but he obviously never got the chance." Obviously puzzled Dimitri paused in his pacing,

"Roza, what are you talking about?" Blowing my hair out of my face again I looked at the ceiling.

"Isn't it a little convenient that the person we were suspecting of all this suddenly turns up out of no where claiming ignorance, and the next thing we know we're locked up in cells, back where I started?"

"You don't seriously think..."

"That my Mother is responsible? You bet your ass I do." Fuck me, why couldn't I have a normal freaking family?


	45. Final Note

Hey all...Long time, no posting, I know. Firstly, I want to apologize to everyone, you've all been so loyal and supportive of me finishing this story, and yet here we are three years and a lot of craziness later and I STILL haven't finished.

I'm not actually planning on finishing it either, for which I am VERY sorry. For those of you wondering, Rose and Dimitri did get their happily ever after along with everyone else...well, for the most part at least. And, though I implied that it may have been Rose's mother that was behind it all, I was actually shaping it up for Daniella Ivashkov to be the bad guy, I had wanted to throw you people off the scent by making it look like it could be Rose's Mom.

So, on another note, you might all be wondering where I've been and what I've been doing. Over the past couple of years I have been writing RP over on FB with an awesome group based on Lorelei James' Rough Rider and Blacktop Cowboy series. While there I rolled Kade McKay, Tanna Barker and my favorite of all McKays, Keely Donohue. It was while I was writing RP that I decided to take the plunge into writing my own original story. It was also there that I met my now collaboration buddy under the pseudonym Josie Wright.

We have finished our first novel in a series of six and are currently waiting to hear back from publishers, which is super nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time. Now that the first book is out of the way, I've decided to take the dive and officially start in on my own work (which you can check out at  u/917503/ ).

Though I am disappointed that I didn't get around to finishing this story, I hope that you'll all jump on over to and check out the original work that I'm starting in on.

Mad 3 to you all! xxooxx R.J.


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